Royston Museum Goes Green

Aim

Royston Museum is going green and we want to change how we operate in order to minimise our impact on the planet.

Who we are

Royston Museum is a family-friendly, accredited Museum and registered charity in North Hertfordshire. We have approximately 20,000 objects in our collection, including photographs, paintings, costumes, social history objects, industrial equipment and archaeology. 

 Our mission is to celebrate and share Royston’s heritage and stories, connecting people and places, past and present. Our vision is to be a community hub for Royston; a multifunctional space which celebrates our town’s heritage, nurtures curiosity and inspires conversations.

Royston Museum Goes Green

Royston Museum Goes Green is our plan to become a more environmentally responsible organisation. We’re taking responsibility for how our decisions affect the environment and are making conscientious changes to how we operate in order to minimise our impact on the planet.

Our whole staff team have become certified Carbon Literate. We've already made lots of small changes at the Museum including introducing eco-toilet paper and hand towels in our bathroom, using recyclable card information panels in our temporary exhibition, turning preloved items into fun family activities, and opting for green energy tariffs.

Now our focus is turning to larger projects.

Energy

The biggest part of our Royston Museum Goes Green plan is to reduce our carbon emissions and ultimately become carbon neutral. 

The first stage of this is to replace our 40+ year old gas boiler with air source heat pumps and a more efficient heating system better suited to the care of our collections can comfort of our staff, volunteers and visitors. We've recently had our planning application approved and are now raising the final funds in order to move ahead with the project.

Biodiversity

The Museum has a small paved courtyard with planters and pots which we care for. However, some pots are damaged and we need to remove our planters to make space for the air source heat pumps. We would like to enhance our courtyard with new pots and planters, introducing new plants which encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife.

Events

As well as taking responsibility for our own actions, we want to advocate for the planet and influence those in our community to do the same. We will be running exhibitions, events and workshops for our community exploring lessons we can learn from history and changes we can make in our own lives.

Why we're fundraising

As a small, independent Museum we are reliant on fundraising and grants to make projects like Royston Museum Goes Green happen. We can’t make a difference without the generous support of our friends and donors. Thanks to Museum Development South East and Arts Council England we're already partway to our total target of £41,000. We're also waiting on the outcome of an application to North Hertfordshire District Council.

Everything raised for Royston Museum Goes Green will go towards making the Museum a more environmentally responsible organisation.

This project successfully funded on 23rd November 2025