Award winning Erewash Museum has struck gold again with a hat trick of honours at the Derbyshire Heritage Awards – including scooping the prestigious ‘best museum’ title with the overall Award for Excellence.
It is the third time in six years that Erewash Borough Council’s museum has taken the top award, which again confirms it as the best in the county.
The honours were handed out during a ceremony at Crich Tramway Village on Friday (7th October), when the museum team were also presented with two Highly Commended awards – the first for reaching new audiences through its foster families project and the other for running the International Women’s Day project on a limited budget.
The museum’s foster families project featured workshops and was run in partnership with Derbyshire County Council to reach foster families through heritage and culture.
To celebrate International Women’s Day staff and volunteers wrote a series of blogs and staged an exhibition exploring the histories and lives of women who had lived or worked at the museum’s Dalby House base in Ilkeston.
The good news follows the opening of a learning and community centre at the museum earlier this year. The old coach house and stables were transformed into the new centre thanks to a total of £563,600 funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Friends of Erewash Museum and Erewash Borough Council.
Erewash Museum is in Ilkeston town centre, a short walk from the Market Place. Opening hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm, and Monday to Saturday during school holidays. Admission is free. Contact 0115 907 1141, email museum@erewash.gov.uk or visit the Facebook page /erewashmuseum