Access

ACCESS POLICY

1. Mission Statement

The founding philosophy of the North End Trust is to educate and inform the public about the once thriving fishing community of the North End of King’s Lynn and its culture and history.  Our current mission is also to provide training and educational opportunities, as well as research facilities, to a broad range of audiences and students of whatever age or origin.  To engage both existing and new audiences is a constant goal.

2. Our definition of access

The trustees of the Museum recognise access as something which is made possible when physical, cultural, social, financial, intellectual, psychological, and emotional barriers are removed or reduced.

3. Our commitment to accessibility

Our commitment is long term and applies to staff and volunteers as well as visitors. We aim to provide the widest possible access to the Museum, its collections and services to the widest possible audience, including both the local and wider community.

Our policy is to make continuous accessibility improvements as our resources permit.

To eliminate barriers to access we consider the following:-

• Physical – the ability of people with physical disabilities and the elderly and people caring for the very young to access all parts of the Museum.
• Sensory – how sensory impaired visitors are able to access and enjoy the Museum.
• Intellectual – whether people with learning difficulties are able to access fully all the Museum’s facilities.
• Cultural – the needs of people whose first language is not English, or whose culture is different with little knowledge of English history.
• Emotional and attitudinal – whether the Museum environment and the Museum staff and volunteers welcome visitors and work placement people as well as groups from all sections of the community.
• Financial – when reviewing our admission charges, we take into account that the ability to pay could be a barrier to access.

4. Buildings

We aim to provide equal access to our buildings and facilities for all visitors. It must be appreciated that as historic buildings some physical adaptations are impossible to undertake. Nevertheless we are constantly working towards improving the facilities available to visitors with disabilities and will actively try to make our collections accessible even when our buildings are not.