Melton museum staff celebrate scooping two coveted awards

The Thorpe End establishment was named joint-best museum and was also honoured for its work in attracting new audiences with history and heritage sessions for under-fives.

The ‘Minis’ activities interpret the Melton museum collections for very young children, using texture, smell, colour and music to explore the displays in a fun and meaningful way. The judges said they were delighted by the sessions and felt they were a great model for all museums in the county.

The accolades came on presentation night for the Leicestershire and Rutland Heritage Awards at the Century Theatre in Coalville.

The awards are organised by the Leicestershire and Rutland Heritage Forum and celebrate the wide range of excellent projects going on in the two counties.

Melton Carnegie Museum and the 1620s House & Garden were jointly awarded Museum of the Year, reflecting the hard and innovative work at both sites to try new things, involve volunteers and attract new audiences.

Forum president, Duncan Lewis, said: “The awards acknowledge the journey made to identify and engage new audiences.

“It is a truly outstanding night for heritage and museums to be celebrated and recognised for all the work they do.”

Councillor Richard Blunt, the county council’s cabinet member for heritage, leisure and arts, said: “Bringing our wonderful heritage to life and sharing it with diverse audiences is vital and a lot of hard work is done by our museums and heritage projects to find new and engaging way of doing this.

“For Melton Carnegie Museum and the other winners to be honoured with these awards is a huge tribute to all the great work which is carried out at our heritage sites.”