01/06/2026
As we start Volunteer Week 2026, it only seems right to spend the first day reflecting on two of the people responsible for the founding of Wymondham Heritage Museum, and its establishment at the Bridewell in 1996.
Anne and Adrian H***e, originally teachers at Wymondham College, spent their retirement dedicating hours, months, and many years to the preservation of local history, and to our heritage. Not only jointly responsible for founding the museum at the Bridewell, and for the exhibitions, displays, events and day to day running in the early years, Anne and Adrian also contributed to local history in a plethora of other ways.
They wrote many history books, focusing on local subjects, Wymondham heritage, and particularly Kett’s Rebellion, and Anne, an enormously talented artist, not only illustrated these, but is responsible for an enormous amount of extraordinary art that, much like their incredible catalogue of work, continue to play a part in Norfolk heritage.
Over the course of several decades, Anne and Adrian compiled a catalogue of research that is almost unrivalled, and which serves today as only one of many reminders of their extraordinary contribution.
Anne died in December 2023, followed by Adrian only recently in the spring of this year, and as we continue to reflect on their lives and work, it becomes increasingly obvious that few words seem fit to describe their contribution, impact, and legacy.
All that we are as a museum is because of Anne and Adrian H***e, and their work is an enduring testament to the power of volunteering, and to its ability to survive even after the people themselves are gone.
We can never truly describe their impact, or our gratitude, but they live on every day in the walls of the Wymondham Bridewell, and in the legacy of Wymondham’s heritage that they so carefully helped to preserve.
