Since it launched in 2004, our Family Friendly Museum Award, has become a benchmark for ambition and quality in working with young people and families in the heritage sector.

Last year was the first time the National Emergency Services Museum (NESM) had applied for the award, prompted by a nomination made by a member of the public. After being shortlisted by our expert panel, undercover family judges visited the museum over the summer holidays in 2022 and their unanimously positive feedback placed it in the number one spot.

Matt Wakefield, CEO of the National Emergency Services Museum, said: “We were so delighted just to be nominated for the Family Friendly Museum Award, when we actually won it blew our socks off! We were overwhelmed, delighted, proud, excited and everything else you can think of.”

The moment the NESM Team found out they had won the Family Friendly Museum Award.

A welcome boost to morale

First and foremost, winning a national museum award can be a huge boost for staff morale. We know that museum teams work extremely hard, often under stretched budgets and juggling many different roles. The importance of having your work affirmed cannot be understated.

Matt said: “We’re a small team and we work so hard to make the National Emergency Services Museum the best it can be, so it was a wonderful reward for our staff and volunteers to be nationally recognised in this way.”

Profile raiser

Matt continues: “As well as having a really positive impact on our team, winning the award has had other benefits. Our annual visitor numbers were higher in 2022 than they have ever been, and we have expanded our networks thanks to the positive publicity the award has brought us.”

After their win, the museum was featured across national and regional press, including mentions on BBC Look North and ITV Calendar, interviews on local BBC Radio Sheffield, other regional online and print publications, and in children’s newspaper, First News. We continue to promote the work of our winners throughout the year, including mentioning the museum in a BBC Radio Four interview about the opening of the Young V&A and children’s provision in museums.

The museum has actively promoted its win, holding a Family Fun Day event to celebrate and sharing the Family Friendly Museum Award winner logo and messaging widely throughout its communications.

We feature our shortlisted and winning museums in popular online Kids in Museums Guides, gaining thousands of views and sometimes being picked up by media, including The Times Money Mentor. In 2022, previous Family Friendly Museum Award finalists were featured on the Priority from O2 website and app as part of our partnership with the brand, highlighting great family days out at Easter.

In addition, we held a photoshoot to announce the museum’s win and these engaging family images are featured across both our and the museum’s communications. We also worked with Lauren Learns History on a special short film to highlight the museum’s offer for families.

This has all had a real-world impact on the museum. Matt describes summer 2023 as the “best summer holidays we’ve ever had”, and something that helped to push NESM’s annual visitor figures from 30,000 to 36,000.

Supporting further development

This increase in visitor numbers has in turn increased the budget, which has supported the recruitment of a new staff member to the team, meaning their work can continue to grow.

For NESM, the national profile and recognition for its excellence in community engagement has helped them gain recognition and start up conversations locally, including being raised in council meetings.

It has provided the motivation and backing for funding bids to develop their family offer further, including to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and opened up opportunities to work with national partners on museum programming. Recently the museum collaborated with the RSPCA on an exhibition about animals in the emergency services to mark the charity’s 200th anniversary.

Gaining recognition in the sector

Winners of the Family Friendly Museum Award are often invited to speak at training and conferences in the UK and overseas to share best practice. NESM has been featured in a profile on the AIM website and asked to speak at the international Best in Heritage Conference.

Matt says: “We’re now linking up with organisations across the country, and being asked to share our best practice with people who had never even heard of us before. Our reputation has really grown.”

We regularly feature the museum in our own Kids in Museums training and resources, including a session for this year’s Family Friendly Museum Award shortlist on making the most of their shortlisting.

The museum was also interviewed by our Youth Panel for their Life at the Museum podcast, and took part in Takeover Day and two of our half term family museum trails with Walker Books.

Legacy: “one of our happiest highlights and something we will discuss for years to come”

As the museum passes over the baton to this year’s winner, Craven Museum in Skipton Town Hall, the legacy of the museum’s win lives on. More than that, it has affirmed Matt and the team’s commitment to welcoming families.

“Making the museum better for families has made it better for everyone.”

A big thank you to the museum for getting behind their win so enthusiastically and working with us to show that museums are great places for families to visit.

We wish the museum every success in its future and look forward to continuing to highlight its great work.

Read more about the National Emergency Services Museum

National Emergency Services Museum wins Family Friendly Museum Award 2022