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In response to the latest national lockdown, the Museum will now remain closed until the end of March.  We are currently planning to re-open at the beginning of the school Easter Holidays from 1 April 2021. 

Our re-opening is likely to happen under a tier system: the conditions of which will determine the kind of visitor programme we can offer.  We’ll communicate further information on the programme as Government guidance emerges over the coming weeks.  Training scheduled for January, therefore, will now be re-organised as appropriate given the revised timeline for opening.

We were fortunate to receive financial support from Arts Council England and the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund in 2020.  Therefore, the Museum’s financial position is more secure than during the first lockdown before Government support was put in place.  Nevertheless, we will continue to review our position alongside the ongoing covid restrictions and associated impact on our programme and visitor numbers.

Flexible furlough will continue for colleagues who are visitor-facing, unable to work from home, or who have caring responsibilities, and those whose workload is reduced due to the Museum’s closure.  In line with previous communication on flexible furlough, should you be required to return to work a member of your management team will be in touch to discuss and agree a work pattern with you.

In line with clear Government guidance as regards non-essential travel, staff will only be on-site for essential reasons.  These are currently identified as: supporting duty management duties, animal care, Forging Ahead, NHS vaccination centre assistance, filming support, maintenance, and any other one-off tasks that are deemed essential and which cannot be completed from home. 

The People & Culture team are working and are contactable if you have any questions, or require support.  Please either email [email protected] , or any member of the team individually if you would like a conversation.  All conversations will be treated in confidence.  As a reminder to all colleagues, should you test positive for the virus please inform the People & Culture team – even if you’re currently furloughed.  Please could you also inform the People & Culture team if and when you have received the covid vaccine. We request this so that the Museum can fulfil its obligations around duty of care, and also so that an appropriate return-to-work plan can be put in place for you in the run up to re-opening.

You will be contacted about reducing holiday balances as the holiday year 20/21 will draw to a close while we are closed.  Please support your manager with this task.  As a reminder, any holiday taken is paid at 100% of pay, including during furlough.

The NHS vaccine centre is planned to be operational from w/c 25 January and there may be opportunities for colleagues to volunteer with the NHS to support the centre.  Further communication on this will follow. Please note that this date is still confidential and not to be shared publicly.

We are very aware of the continuing impact of this public health emergency on all colleagues.  Therefore, during this period of lockdown we will issue All Staff communications on a fortnightly basis; please do check the intranet for latest updates and stay in touch.

As 2020 comes to a close, Andrew shares his reflections on a tumultuous and transformative year for the Museum and what lies ahead. Follow the link below to watch on YouTube.

If you are having trouble viewing the video please see below for the transcript.

“2020 has been a year that we’re not going to forget, are we? And nor should we actually, really, because it’s had impacts both personally and professionally on the Museum. But, I think we’ve adapted tremendously well, and we’ve worked together tremendously well. You know, I’ve always regarded the Museum as a stage upon which we tell stories, and despite COVID I think we’ve adapted tremendously well to make that stage even livelier than we normally do, and I thank you all for that.

Do you know, the response we’ve had from visitors and from people who follow us on all the social media channels and get in touch with us has been heartening, actually, even during times when we’ve been closed. Actually it’s given us great comfort that we’re doing the right thing, and that when things get back to normal they’ll be there for us and I’ve found that tremendously supportive.

This year we’ll have only welcomed around 90,000 visitors, that’s something like about 75% less than we normally would – but we’ve given a great experience for them, and I think it’s been tremendously helpful to be open as much as we possibly can be. But, only welcoming 90,000 visitors as you well know has had a huge impact on our finances. We’ve had to have financial support from the taxpayer of about 5 million pounds, and sometimes I’ve felt like Oliver Twist, actually, just having our hand out all the time, wanting more and more to keep us going. But, we’ve all made sacrifices, and I think through those sacrifices we’ve put ourselves in as best a position as we possibly can be for the future. It feels like we’ve all pulled together.

It seems ironic, doesn’t it, the last twist of the year is that we’re now being set up as a vaccination centre for COVID, and I expect that to happen early in the new year.

Forging Ahead is continuing on, particularly the design work, and I hope to have some good news about that in the coming days and weeks. It feels like Forging Ahead is even more important to our future than maybe it did in the past.

So for now, I wish you a very Happy Christmas wherever you are, and whoever you can be with and I hope for better times in the new year. Thanks very much.”