It’s not too late to request the Wheels of Time 2021 Award.
If a child has collected badges from all 48 sites on the Wheels of Time 2020 Map (or 47 if the only one not collected is The Huguenot Museum) an adult can request the Wheels of Time 2021 Award on behalf of the child. We will keep the request form available until 14th April, but all badges must have been collected by 31st March.
Requests for the new Roamin’ Rex Platinum Award and Wheels of Time 2022 Award cannot be made until 15th April (it may take us a few days after 15th April to upate the Wheels of Time website)
Wheels of Time 2022 was launched with a ‘bang’, at Crabble Corn Mill yesterday, by some of the Heritage Explorers who have earned awards during the last two years.
We were delighted to have, as guests to witness the Launch,
Deputy-Lieutenant of Kent Kate Fenwick,
The Mayor of Dover – Cllr Gordon Cowan and Town-Sergeant Mr David Hunt-Cooke,
The Mayor of Swale Cllr Paul Stephen and
the chair of the River Parish Council Clive Taylor and his wife Jill.
The guests were able to meet with representaives from many of the 53 sites that are members of the Scheme this year.
You will be able to collect Roamin’ Rex’s Map from any open site from 1st April 2022. Find sites on the ‘Museums’ menu or listed on our Planner Page
The UK Government has now re-introduced the legal requirement to wear face coverings in most indoor settings, including museums and heritage sites.
Many of our sites are now in their normal seasonal closure period but we encourage you to support those that remain open. We have updated our Planner to show which sites they are. Please do comply with the requirement to wear a face covering during your visit. To further reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19 we also encourage you to carry out a Rapid Lateral Flow Test before your visit.
Roamin’ Rex, Kent’s very own time travelling character who guides young explorers across the county’s heritage and museums, is setting his sights beyond the Garden of England.
Thanks to a grant of £47,460 from the Arts Council England for a three year project titled ‘Time to Change’, the Wheels of Time badge scheme will be able to develop its governance and operating model to enable the scheme to be replicated across museum and heritage networks outside of Kent.
Wheels of Time began in 2015 to encourage young children and their families to visit participating museums and heritage sites to learn more about Kent’s vast and interesting history. The character of Roamin’ Rex was named by one of the scheme’s first young explorers, Daniel, who collected his badge from Ashford Borough Museum. Since then, the initiative has grown in popularity and now has 48 participating Kent sites with 30,000 badges being awarded to 15,000 children prior to Covid-19.
Bob Shrubb, Chair of the Wheels of Time management committee, said “the Core (management) Group were delighted to learn that their bid to Arts Council England had been successful and more so that they have been able to appoint Sarah Corn to help us deliver the project. We would like to thank South East Museum Development, for supporting our application, and everyone who plays the National Lottery, without whom we wouldn’t be able to do this.”
All of the Wheels of Time sites that joined the Scheme in 2020 have now opened, so we are able to announce the launch of the Wheels of Time 2021 Award for heritage explorers who have visited all 48 sites on Roamin’ Rex’s 2020/21 Map.
As with all Awards, badges collected during previous years count toward the Wheels of Time 2021 Award. There is a separate ranking system for E-badges so they do not count toward awards.
Parents can request the Wheels of Time 2021 Award on our Award Details Form
Heritage explorers that haven’t visited all 48 sites yet can earn
the Roamin’ Rex Bronze Award for visiting 10 sites,
Thanks to our participating families, the expansion of Wheels of Time has been phenomenal, but that has created a scheme that is too big for the current organisation and for which further growth will be inhibited by the resources at our disposal.
So we are pleased to announce the grant of funding by Arts Council England for a three year project to:·
Create a new Wheels of Time organisation·
Streamline our administration and·
Develop a model for expansion of Wheels of Time beyond Kent
As a result we are seeking a part-time, freelance, Development and Delivery Officer to manage many aspects of the project. If you or somebody you know might be suitable for the role please view the Role Profile.
Some sites have announced their re-opening plans. We list below all 48 sites colour coded to indicate whether they have announced plans to open.
We will keep this post updated as sites inform us of their plans.
Sites that have opened are indicated in green. Click the site name to visit their website for times and booking details.
Sites that have announced plans to open are indicated in orange with the planned opening date. Opening dates may change.
See which sites are open on the online version of Roamin’ Rex’s map.
Please check directly the websites and, where they have them, social media accounts of museums and heritage sites before leaving home. Some sites will require visitors to pre-book. We will not be able to maintain details of opening times on the Wheels of Time website.
In January we promised an exciting new way for you to earn virtual rewards for learning about Kent’s heritage.
Today, we launch the chance to explore Kent’s heritage, when you are unable to visit our sites. Earn digital E-badges badges by visiting some of their websites and completing activities provided.
Unlike the Wheels of Time (physical) Scheme you don’t have to be between 5 and 11 years of age to participate in the E-badge Scheme; it is is open to all.
