In April 2000 we abolished entrance charges, and the museum has been free to visit ever since (although donations are, of course, welcome).
In 2002 we opened the East Surrey Room and started expanding our community outreach offerings, giving talks to both adults and children, often illustrated by mysterious artefacts extricated from heavy boxes lugged from one venue to the next. In the same year with the computerisation of the collections, thanks to the sterling efforts of unpaid volunteers.
In 2004 East Surrey MP Peter Ainsworth visited the museum, and he returned in 2006 to open a special exhibition celebrating 25 years of the East Surrey Museum. Our celebrations included hosting a sizeable Victorian re-enactment, giving c200 children some insights into Victorian life – possibly the best-attended event in our history.
In January 2006 the museum caught up with the times and established its first website.
In 2009 the museum acquired full accreditation with the Museums, Libraries and Arts Council, thereby confirming the role of the museum as one which provided an essential public and educational service and had policies in place to ensure the care, security and documentation of its collections.
In 2011, archaeology enthusiast Chris Taylor took over as curator and stayed for eight years – you can still see his stamp on many of the collections on display. Amongst other highlights of Chris’s tenure, the Children’s Room was completely revamped in 2013 and in 2014 we remembered the outbreak of World War I with a special exhibition showing how WW1 affected our locality.
After he left, Peter Connolly, the current curator took over, and has continued to develop the museum invarious ways, although Covid forced the closure of the museum for large parts of 2020 and 2021.
