Preview: Stats 11 – Museum year in numbers

LATHE HOUSE MUSEUM · ANNUAL REVIEW 2025

The year in numbers.

A small museum of working life in a market town, open five days a week with two paid staff. This is what 2025 added up to.

Issue 7 · published March 2026

01 · VISITORS

41,208

people came through the front door, the most since we reopened after the roof repairs in 2019.

02 · SCHOOLS

3,112

school children handled a real flat iron, mangle or ration book.

03 · VOLUNTEERS

volunteers kept the doors open, the youngest 16 and the oldest 91.

04 · UNDER-12s

One in four visitors was under 12.

Up from one in seven in 2023, after the Saturday handling tables started.

05 · COLLECTION

1,860

objects catalogued, 212 of them photographed for the first time.

06 · VOICES

oral histories recorded with former mill and foundry workers.

Sources: door counter and till system (visitors), school booking diary (schools), volunteer rota (volunteers), collections database (objects), sound archive log (voices), visitor survey of 1,204 people (under-12s). All figures cover 1 January to 31 December 2025.

Read the full annual review →