The Friends organise events both independently and jointly with the Museum. These include an annual summer party in the Museum garden, lectures, and occasional visits with a guided tour of an historic site.
After the formalities of the Annual General Meeting there is a social occasion with refreshments followed by a lecture from a guest speaker.
The Friends committee host the Preview evenings, with refreshments, to the 3-4 exhibitions during the year at the Museum; all Friends members are invited to these exclusive events.
News of Publications
Friends may be interested in three new publications.
Bridget Flanagan and Keith Grimwade have an article published in
the journal ‘Landscape History’:
‘The impact of watermills on the landscape of the River Great
Ouse valley between Brampton and Hemingford Grey, 1086–1350’.
If anyone is interested to read it, and is not a subscriber to the
journal, please contact for a free downloadable copy.
Bridget and Keith have also published a book
The Watermills and Landscape of the River Great Ouse, Cambridgeshire:
modelling the impact of Watermilling in a Lowland Valley’.
This is available to buy from Amazon or the publishers, Oxbow Books/Windgather Press at the RRP of £29.95.
The authors have copies available at £16.00 +p&p
Please contact them direct.
tobridget@hotmail.com
keithgrimwade@btinternet.com
Upcoming Events
AGM – Thursday 15th October 7.00 – 8.30 pm
Chatteris Museum visit – Thursday 22nd October
Keith Grimwade has very kindly arranged a visit for us to Chatteris Museum on Thursday 22nd October.
How the Museum operates is rather intriguing because it is wholly owned by the Chatteris Museum Trust, a registered charity, and it is run solely by volunteers.
The wide range of artefacts on display includes fossils and animal bones from the Ice Ages as well as objects relating to the very first settlers who lived in the area. There are items from a nearby Roman settlement, through to displays of more modern interest, such as Fenland skating (quite fun to compare our own collection) and an exhibition featuring the pubs and beerhouses of Chatteris (up to 50+ already and counting). A project in progress which may be on display by October, is a model railway with trains passing through Chatteris Station as it was in the 50’s and 60’s. This is just a random selection – there is much, much more.
The visit will start at 10.00am and is expected to last up to 2 hours. There is no charge but the Museum would no doubt appreciate a donation.
The address is 2 Park Street, Chatteris, PE16 6AE. It is up to everybody to arrange their own transport but If anybody would like a lift or anyone can offer a lift, please let Keith know and he will do his best to synchronise things.
Our party is limited to 25 people so, even though it is not until October, if you want to come it would be as well to book straightaway. All you need do is email keith.grimwade@btinternet.com with your name and telephone number.
Previous Events
Flag Fen Archaeology Park Friday 8th May 2026,
Farmers’ Market of Saturday Nov 15th
We will be selling our Christmas cards and books.
Annual General Meeting 7pm Thursday 9th October 2025
A short meeting to review the year will be followed by
Natalie Leigh-Brown,Community Development Officer for Urban and Civic at Alconbury Weald, giving a talk on the History of Alconbury Weald
Thursday April 3rd 2025 , a guided tour of the Grade 11*Listed Cold War Avionics Bunker , Alconbury
Members of The Friends enjoyed a wonderful guided tour of the Avionics building on part of the old airfield
site at Alconbury. This was the Cold War bunker, constructed to facilitate the information-handling from the U2/
TR1 aircraft. Membership Secretary, Ann Abraham and Events Organiser, Sue Belcher, arranged the tour as a
follow-on from Richard Carter’s talk to our AGM on ‘Airfields of Huntingdonshire’.
Natalie Leigh-Brown, Community Development Officer for Urban and Civic at Alconbury Weald, showed us around the bunker – and although it was
fascinating to see all the equipment of this rather eery military installation of the late 1980s, and be
relieved that it was never called into active use, it was salutary to be so close to the reality of the very thin line between peace and war
A very interesting tour !
Friends visit to the tomb of Richard III in Leicester, June 2016
Friends enjoying a guided ‘handling session’ of early Renaissance ware at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, October 2015
