Sheringham Museum

Museum Members and Friends

The museum was founded in the late 1980s by a group of dedicated volunteers and while we now benefit from the services of a well-experienced professional manager, it still relies on voluntary effort for much of its operation.

We operate as two separate charities of different types - Sheringham Museum Norfolk Trust, which owns the collection and is responsible for its care and development, and Sheringham Museum Norfolk Trust Limited, which employs the manager is takes responsibility for the business of running the museum as an enterprise. The collection is protected by this arrangement, which is fairly common in independent museums.

We could go into reams of detail on the two structures, but the salient details are -

1. The Limited Company has Directors, and operates the Friends scheme, which provides unlimited free entry to the Museum and produces newsletters, social media content etc. for the Friends. Friends do not vote in the appointment of Directors.

2. The Trust has Members who can elect Trustees and generally participate in the care and development of the collection. They carry some limited responsibility should the Trust ever get into financial difficulties. Trust members do not get free admission to the museum, so generally the belong to the Friends organisation as well.

We also welcome a growing number of 'subscribers' - people who are interested in hearing about museum events. You can sign up as a subscriber by filling in the form on this page.

Our Trust Members can work on research projects, using collection items and public records to illustrate episodes from the town's history and thereby enhance our displays, or they might be involved in working on our annual major exhibitions, or they might just be interested in researching their own families. Or all of the above!

Both Members and Friends may join our team of volunteers and take on one or more of the many roles that go into the running of a museum. It's a great way of meeting good people! If you would like to find out a little more, drop in at the museum and have a chat with our manager or one of the volunteers you will find there.

New Members and Friends are always welcome, of course. We keep the fees quite low, so membership of either body is not a big money-spinner, but the moral support of a good number of interested people is much appreciated.

We produce an email bulletin every month or two to keep our members up to date, and we produce a printed newsletter a couple of times per year.

If you would like to receive our email bulletins, fill in the registration box above. There is no pressure to join, and we won't bombard you with spam!