While we are all adjusting to the new Coronavirus world, visitor attractions such as Wirksworth’s new Heritage Centre are facing their own challenges.
We’ve been playing our part to limit the spread of the virus, closing our doors on March 20th. However we are doing lots of planning behind the scenes for a reopening, and are incredibly grateful to Arts Council England, who have generously agreed to support us while re work on our plans, and projects that we can deliver online. Watch this space for more announcements!
In the meantime we would like your ideas, as part of a new ‘Wirksworth Heritage Forum’ – your chance to really shape what we offer as we move into our second year but in a world that few of us could have imagined. What should we do differently and what will you feel comfortable with as likely users when we reopen? Suggestions please to info@wirksworthheritagecentre.org or more publicly as messages to our Facebook page.
Some of the things we can tell you about already are our Augmented Reality display which enhances your virtual or real visit to the Centre on a smart phone – this will ‘bring to life’ images and content. We will also be filming our popular guided walks so that these are available as downloads, and are looking at running our popular Heritage Talks live online so you can still enjoy our speakers and their presentations, and ask questions (please let us know if this appeals to you, and if you would be prepared to pay a small charge for this). Regrettably we’ve had to postpone our planned loan of parts of Wirksworth’s very own woolly rhino from the Oxford Museum of Natural History. However we hope to be reunited with our bones in the spring of next year!
In the meantime there are fun things to do on our website – we have extended the closing date of our Derbyshire oatcake challenge prize competition (bit.ly/2Xf6rmw) to the end of June. You can also help at this difficult time when we are still incurring fixed overhead costs by making a donation at https://www.wirksworthheritage.co.uk/donate/ or by becoming a member (https://www.wirksworthheritage.co.uk/getting-involved/). Once we have reopened added benefits include invitations to exhibition previews and free access to the museum galleries.