Since the Society took up permanent residence in the Old Butter Factory there have been many, many projects run by the Society to improve the Old Butter Factory Precinct site and our extensive collection.
All the out-buildings on the site, other than the Boiler House, were either built or relocated and restored by the Society (or local suppliers under the oversight of the Society). These include the Machinery Shed, Group House, Group Settlement Cow Shed, Group Settlement Pan Lavatory, RD4 Medical Hut, Carriage Shed, Rotunda, Schoolhouse, Group Settlement Humpy, Ambergate Telephone Exchange and the Group Settlement Cream Room.
All the carriages in the Carriage shed were loving restored by Society volunteers as were all the items of farm machinery that can be found in the grounds and in the Machinery Shed.
Nowadays Society volunteers can still be seen working in the Museum workshop restoring and repairing collection artefacts, which come in all sizes.
Recent infrastructure improvement projects have included the installation a museum quality lighting system in the Old Butter Factory and Group House to improve visibility for our visitors, the installation of a PV solution to decrease our ongoing electricity costs and the installation of an external security system to decrease vandalism from unwanted intruders.
We are currently digitising our collection to satisfy current expectations that our collection and its stories should be available to people who cannot visit the Museum. Due to the size of our collection we are expecting this project to run for a few years.
Another current project is to create interpretive signage that will enhance people’s understanding of our collection.
There is no shortage of projects, just a shortage of manpower to power our vision!
