Community Projects
We are very proud of the special community projects that we deliver. These projects are often carried out in partnership with external organisations and aim to strengthen the links between the local community and the museum.
People who participate in our community projects get the chance to take part in creative workshops, try new things, experience something different, learn new skills and broaden their knowledge. Each project is supported by our rich and varied collection of objects from across Huntingdonshire.
If you are interested in running a community project with us, please get in touch with our community officer communities@norrismuseum.org.uk
Introducing Voices!
Launched on 11th June 2025, Voices brings our exhibits to life through the power of real local voices.
As part of a project to make the museum more inclusive, accessible, and engaging — 33 individuals from 25 local businesses and organisations across St Ives recorded short exhibit descriptions. These recordings have been turned into QR codes, now placed throughout our permanent gallery.
Simply scan a code with your smartphone and hear the exhibition text read aloud — in the voices of our own community.
From All Saints Parish Church to Tom’s Cakes on Market Hill, our incredible volunteer travelled across town, microphone in hand. Each recording was captured on the spot, later it was edited, and linked to its corresponding display in the gallery.
The Voices project was made possible through a grant from the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, whose support also enabled the creation of handling boxes — further enhancing the museum’s commitment to inclusivity for all visitors.
On launch day, 11th June, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire broadcasted a live interview from the Norris Museum, highlighting the Voices project and the power of community collaboration. Here is the live broadcast.
Honouring History: A Soldier’s Tale – From D-Day to VE Day – to returning to Normandy – By The St Ives Branch of The British Legion
To mark the 80th anniversaries of VE (Victory in Europe) Day and VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, the St Ives branch of The British Legion provided a display of medals, and their Chairman Alan Scott gave a moving account of Bertie Phillips James experiences leading up to and including D-Day.
Bertie also took part in the Allied advance and looked after returning prisoners of war before being demobbed. He would revisit Normandy many years later with his family.
Bertie also became the Mayor of St Ives and lead a ceremonial delegation on the last train out of the town. He was involved in many charitable projects.
To listen to the fascinating stories as told by Alan himself, please visit the dedicated page by clicking on the link below:
A Soldiers Tale: 80th anniversary VE and VJ Day
Honouring History: VE and VJ Day Boards Created by the Norris Museum RAF Reminiscence Group
To mark the 80th anniversaries of VE (Victory in Europe) Day and VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, the RAF Reminiscence Group at The Norris Museum has proudly designed and created two special commemorative boards which were on display from May through to the end of August on the Waits. These visual displays serve not only as a tribute to those who served during the Second World War but also as a tool to educate and inspire future generations.
Each board offers a thoughtful reflection on the events of VE Day (8 May 1945) and VJ Day (15 August 1945), marking the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific, respectively.
The boards were created as part of an ongoing mission to preserve local memory and to provide meaningful opportunities for reminiscence, discussion, and reflection. The process of making them was collaborative and deeply personal, bringing together stories from the past with the creativity and commitment of the group today.
Kick Create
In 2022 KICK, a St Ives based youth work charity, received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for an exciting heritage project: KICK Create. The project recruited young people to explore their local heritage in a fun, creative and original way. Working in partnership with The Norris Museum, the young people were able to take part in three elements, whilst completing a Bronze or Silver Arts Award. The three elements of the project were: to create a story mat, produce a short film and to write and perform a theatre piece in the museum garden. All aspects looked at the history of St Ives.
Story Mat – the young people learned about the history of St Ives and turned stories and key historical events into drawings. The drawings were then created in various fabrics and sewn onto a large floor mat. The story mat will be used by the Norris Museum to help others discover and explore the history of St Ives – through storytelling in schools, at the museum and in the wider community.
Film on the history of St Ives – the young people took part in several film workshops and created a short film on the history of St Ives. During the workshops they researched and selected parts of history they wanted to include in a short, seven minute film on the history of St Ives. They also learnt how to edit films.
Write and perform a drama piece on the History of St Ives with Herbert Norris as the Narrator – the young people used the knowledge that they had gained from researching the film and story mat to design and write their own open air theatre production. They were involved in everything from costume and set design, writing, and production of the final piece. The performance took place in the museum garden in June 2022.
The Visual Story Guide
The Norris Museum has recently (April 2019) launched “The Visual Story Guide” which is available from both the museum’s front desk and to download from our website here: Visual Story
As part of a new project led by our Communities Officer, Susan Bate, The Norris Museum has been working in partnership with Spring Common Academy’s post 16 group, to create a visual story of the museum.
The new guide will support those with autism to prepare for their visit to the museum and will contain pictures and information about some of the things you can expect to see and do here.
To find out more about The Visual Story Guide please email Susan at communities@norrismuseum.org.uk
Plants Through The Ages: flowerbed on the Waites
This project the Norris Museum worked with two partners Spring Common Academy and St Ives in Bloom to look at how plants have been used over the years.
During the course of the project the students learnt about different herbs and how plants have been used for a range of different medicinal purposes. They explored tie dying, experimenting with different fruits and vegetables to see which colours can be made, learnt about lavender and its different uses and created a lavender bag.
One session was all about tea. We talked about where tea has come from and discovered how to make herbal teas from scratch, in addition we had a tea tasting session trying lemon balm, mint and fennel.
Together we planted seeds and re-potted the plants used in the public flowerbed that we’ve taken over. The students created the display board and planted all the plants in the flowerbed on the Waits.
This project was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for Project of the year 2019 through Museums in Cambridgeshire.
Young Carers – Mosaic Wall Art Project
The museum was awarded a grant from Cambridgeshire Community Reach Fund to work with the Young Carers from St Ives and the surrounding villages to design and create a piece of wall art that would be on permanent display in the museum garden.
Top Secret 2 – SpyNet
New International Encounter led a project with young people from Ramsey and the Huntingdon area in collaboration with the Norris Museum, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
The project called SpyNet investigated the history of spying in the context of Cambridgeshire’s military bases and the impact of the Cold War on modern day surveillance. During a summer activity week, 14 young people took part in surveillance operations around St. Ives, learnt to fly a drone, interviewed former spies and created their own spy characters, as well as making films and artwork on the theme.
The outcome of the work was presented as an exhibition at the Norris Museum and as a performance in Ramsey Library. This film tells the story of the project and the benefits for the young people.
Kick Legacy
In 2019 KICK, a St Ives based youth work charity, received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £36,000 for an exciting heritage project, KICK Legacy. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project focused on what life was like for young people living in St Ives and the surrounding areas during World War 2. The KICK Legacy project, in partnership with The Norris Museum, gave a group of young people from St Ives Academy the opportunity to work with professional artists in ceramics, drama, willow, animation, textiles, music and film to curate their own exhibition based on their findings from interviewing older residents in the community alongside their own research.
The project culminated with an exhibition held in the Community Room of The Norris Museum in St Ives, and was open to the public from 16-31st October 2019.
Supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project enabled local young people to discover just how different life was for people their age during the war years. The group took oral histories of local residents who lived here during that time and experienced, first hand, the aspects of the war that directly affected St Ives, including the arrival of evacuees from London and the prisoners of war.
Through this project the young people developed new skills in ceramics, drama, willow, animation, textiles, music and film as well as being trained in taking oral histories, and achieved a nationally recognised Bronze Arts Award.
By creating this valuable resource for the people of St Ives and the surrounding villages, the young people learnt about the heritage of the town they live and go to school in, helping them to understand and respect it’s history and recognising just how different life is for them today, compared to the lives of children and young people in the 1940’s.
“We are absolutely delighted to have been able to run this project with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Working in partnership with The Norris Museum and a group of young people from St Ivo Academy we have been able to record a period of time in St Ives history in a very creative and accessible way for the community to enjoy for years to come. We can’t wait to work in partnership with The Norris Museum again in the future.” – Louise McCoy, Operations Manager of KICK
Tactile Museum
Action for Children’s Woodland Lodge is a respite care centre for children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. We have been delivering the Tactile Museum, giving these young people the opportunity to handle original museum objects. Together we are creating a mosaic of different textures and colours, based on our collection.
Arts Award
Working with Cambridge County Council Youth Services we delivered the Bronze Arts Award to 2 groups of young people in Sawtry and Ramsey. The young people have been identified by the school as those who would benefit from the Arts Award. The focus for the award has been around Crime and Punishment, using our collection as inspiration.
Savouries & Sweets
We love working with Saints, a group for Adults with learning difficulties and disabilities, aged between 16 and 25, based in St Ives. For this project, we took the groups interest in food and cooking, and over 10 weeks cooked and created all sorts of wonderful things! The recipes will form a book called Saints Savouries and Sweets.
Click & Create
Working with Huntingdonshire District Council Community Team we have had great fun on a photography project called Click and Create. The aim was to bring the community together by collecting old pictures of their village, Little Paxton, and the taking new ones, to add to the Museum’s collection. The final outcome was a piece of art work to decorate the HUB, the new community centre, on the new housing development in the village.