About the Trust

What we do

• Run Vengerberg Museum in the Old Grammar School, which we own, and care for its collections.
• Run the visitor information point in the museum foyer, with a grant from the town council.
• Put on the Lilac Fair each May.
• Write, draw and lead the town’s heritage walks.
• Look after the statue in the Market Square and the reference drawing of the town crest, under an agreement with the town council.
• Hold the Bridge Fund, for the care of the flood marks on the Town Bridge.

Our purpose

The Trust’s objects, in its constitution, are “to advance the education of the public in the history, heritage and traditions of the town of Vengerberg and its neighbourhood, in particular but not exclusively by maintaining a museum, by promoting the annual Lilac Fair, and by the preservation of buildings, monuments and objects of historic or public interest in the town”.

History

The Trust began as the Vengerberg and District Historical Society, formed in 1961, which opened the museum in the Old Grammar School in 1964. In 1987, when the old Lilac Fair committee asked to be wound up, the Society formed the Vengerberg Trust as a charitable trust to run both the museum and the fair. The Trust bought the freehold of the Old Grammar School from the town council in 1999, and became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2016.

What we are not

The Trust is not the town council or the district council, and is not part of either. We cannot help with council services, planning, parking permits or the Thursday market. The visitor information point can give you the councils’ contact details.

In numbers, 2025–26

Museum visitors	19,031
Visitor information point enquiries	7,214
Members at 31 March	486
Volunteers	92, giving about 11,640 hours
Staff	3, all part-time (2.1 full-time equivalent)
Income	£130,757

See Trustees and staff, Annual report and accounts and Governance and policies.