The Mapping Museum research project was created to look at the increase in the number of museums in the UK. As part of this project, Jenny Hurkett was interviewed about the Blue Town Heritage Centre.

Explore more about the Mapping Museum project here and read Hurkett's interview below:

Name of person being interviewed: Jenny Hurkett

Location of interview: Blue Town Heritage Centre, Sheerness, Kent

Date of Recording: 19 October 2018

Recording Length: 00:50:58

Name of interviewer: Dr Toby Butler

Description: The Blue Town Heritage Centre is devoted to various aspects of local history including the development of the docks, social, and maritime history. It shares a building with a working music hall/cinema venue.

Summary of main points in interview: Jenny Hurkett is the founder and manager of the Blue Town Heritage Centre, Criterion Music Hall, and Cinema. She also established the Eastchurch Aviation Museum and chairs a network of museums in Swale. She converted a kitchen showroom she owned with her husband into a heritage centre after screening a film on local history that attracted hundreds of visitors.

She discovered the building was on the site of the Criterion Music Hall (bombed during the Second World War) and they then rebuilt a theatre which is open for music hall, variety shows, cinema screenings, and conferences.

Hurkett was motivated by a strong feeling that Sheppey’s history was being overlooked. Hurkett describes the range of activities at the centre and how it developed, and discusses the accessible style of interpretation in the centre. Hurkett discusses the establishment of the charity and how the organisation is run (by more than 30 volunteers). In the next phase of development she intends to step back and ideally have some paid job roles to manage the museum and the expanding theatrical programme.