It was felt that the museum would be best managed by a group of volunteers, rather than the Town Council, and a public meeting was called to gauge support. It was a successful meeting and the Burton Latimer Heritage Society was formed. In October that year the Heritage Room Museum opened with its first exhibition and continued to mount exhibitions, at first three times a year and subsequently twice a year.

The Society was granted charitable status in 2002 and has an executive committee of twelve trustees and two co-opted members. Its present officers are: John Cutmore, chairman; John Meads, secretary; Ian Watson, treasurer. Other trustees are: Peter Bettles, John and Judy Clipstone, Trevor Cooper, Ivan Cox, Ian Hebden, Anita Marks, Janet Meads and John Peck. Councillors Michelle Evans and Ruth Groome are currently the Town Council representatives.

The Society issues four newsletters a year to its members; they carry news of the Society’s activities and articles of historical interest about the town and its past inhabitants. Copies of photographs from all the previous exhibitions are contained in a series of folders which can be seen when the museum is open. Regular audio visual presentations of ‘old Burton ’ photographs are a regular feature of the Society's programme and "An Afternoon to Remember" is held regularly for people that cannot get to the museum during its normal opening hours.

 In 2010, the museum moved from The Poplars to rooms in the Civic Centre, once the town’s medical centre, which has the great advantage of being on the ground floor, unlike at ‘The Poplars’ where it was on the first floor. A successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund meant that in 2011 the museum was refitted with modern conservation standard display cabinets and the research room with a touchscreen computer on to which have been installed forty Burton Latimer indexes with thousands of references to Burton Latimer people. There is also a microfiche reader which can be used to look at parish registers with baptisms 1558-1972, marriages 1558-1996 and burials 1558-1973, a large LCD screen showing old photographs and dozens of books with hundreds of photographs from past exhibitions and other general reference material.

The main exhibition room	The research room

Exhibitions

Now known as Burton Latimer Heritage Museum, it is normally open, on Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm and on the last Sunday of the month 1.30pm to 4.30pm except when exhibitions are being changed and over the Christmas/New Year period.  Out-of-town visitors should contact the secretary before travelling any distance to check if exhibitions are being changed. The museum can be opened at other times by arrangement. Visits from schools or other groups are welcome.

The museum is run independently by volunteers and for its running costs it relies on donations, the annual subscription of £5 per person or £8 per couple from members of Burton Latimer Heritage Society and the generosity of visitors.

Secretary: John Meads, 46 Bridle Road, Burton Latimer. NN15 5QP Tel: 01536722722           e-mail: johnandjan.meads@btopenworld.com

Treasurer: Ian Watson, 9 Church View, Burton Latimer. NN15 5LG Tel: 01536726652

Museum Relocation & Refit