CORONAVIRUS: Wisbech attraction to close and Parson Drove bingo night cancelled

A Wisbech museum is to close for six weeks because of the coronavirus outbreak and a village has called off its weekly bingo sessions.

Trustees at Octavia Hill’s Birthplace House in Wisbech have agreed to close the museum at 7 South Brink from Monday, March 23 to Friday, May 1.

All events, group visits, room bookings and meetings scheduled for that period are being cancelled or postponed— and the grounds and the Clock Bookshop are also set to close.

A museum spokesman said: “It is important to make clear that this is a precautionary measure to protect visitors, volunteers and staff and not a shut down because of a suspected case.”

The trustees will continue to monitor the global and national situation and decide the correct way to proceed from the beginning of May and beyond.

The museum is dedicated to the town’s most famous daughter, who is celebrated as a social reformer and co-founder of the National Trust.

• In Parson Drove, Thursday night bingo sessions have been cancelled for the rest of the month. Organisers say the precautionary measure is because the majority of players are elderly.