New Beginnings

 

About the Project

Launched in 2025, ‘SGS: New Beginnings’ is a multi-year project that aims to safeguard the future of Spalding Gentlemen’s Society. The first phase, currently ongoing, is the ‘MEND’ project. The second stage is ‘New Beginnings’, which will secure the Society’s internationally significant collections and bring our historic museum back to life.

The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. ‘New Beginnings’ is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to embark on a Development Grant to work toward expanding our museum on the former Leverton’s/Business Centre site in Broad Street, Spalding.

The Museum Building

The Development Grant

This expansion is intended to provide additional space and facilities to benefit members, visitors and the wider community in Spalding and Fenland.

The design report represents a concept for what an expansion on the Leverton’s/Business Centre site might look like. It is a concept design and a starting point for 18 months of development and consultation.

We hope to:

  • Create a new accessible entrance foyer and temporary gallery space that could include a small café or coffeehouse. The new entrance area will provide easy, level access into the 1911 building to allow visitors to move into that space as part of their visit. It will be animated by a rolling programme of temporary exhibits and more permanent interpretation.
  • Develop a new vertical access core with a lift that will create disabled access to the first floor of the 1911 building for the first time in its history. Design Report
  • Provide a flexible exhibition and learning space on the first floor to allow the Society to bring lectures and school visits back under its roof.
  • Install conservation and digitisation studios located towards the front of the re-purposed business centre building. These will be designed to allow visitors to see practical conservation work taking place.
  • Retro-fit the historic engineering works to create a large, high-density collection store capable of housing the Society’s extensive museum, library and archive holdings and other collections.

The project also delivers a complementary activity plan that will enable us to carry out consultation work to understand how the local community would like to engage with the museum, reach new audiences, and run a packed calendar of events throughout the year. We will also expand our programme of conservation training and our role as the centre for heritage research, knowledge, engagement and education across the whole of Fenland.

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations.

We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.