John Wisbey
John Wisbey was born in Cambridge in 1938 and came to live in Burwell in 1965. Along with his architectural colleague Cecil Bourne and local heating engineer John Hardiment, he founded Burwell Windmill Trust in 1970, and was a founding Trustee of Burwell Museum Trust. He was also involved in buying and rebuilding the 18th-century barn that forms the centrepiece of Burwell Museum. He talks about his life and work on local historic buildings and at Burwell Museum.
| Time | Topics described |
| 00:00:00 | Preamble |
| 00:00:12 | Tape introduction |
| 00:00:21 | Preamble |
| 00:02:00 | Interview start |
| 00:02:15 | John Wisbey introduction |
| 00:02:55 | First house in Burwell |
| 00:05:24 | Problems of buying a house needing restoration |
| 00:06:25 | Family |
| 00:07:30 | Working life as an architect |
| 00:08:35 | National service |
| 00:10:26 | Setup own architect practice in Burwell |
| 00:10:53 | Renovating Eagle pub in Cambridge |
| 00:11:20 | Working for Mitchams in Burwell on Fordam House Estate restoration |
| 00:12:50 | Memorable cottage restorations in Over after fire |
| 00:15:00 | Saving Burwell Mill and setting up trust |
| 00:17:07 | Getting volunteers involved and finance |
| 00:17:33 | State of windmill when purchased |
| 00:18:31 | State of equipment when purchased |
| 00:19:45 | Duke of Edinburgh Award young volunteers |
| 00:20:30 | Chris Wilson involvement in re-building mill machinery and repairing cap |
| 00:22:03 | Volunteers over the years |
| 00:23:00 | Chris Brooke drawings |
| 00:24:24 | Setup of Museum trust – Bygones Weekend |
| 00:25:55 | Acquiring barn as first museum building |
| 00:28:00 | Adding more buildings to museum site |
| 00:29:35 | Vehicle shed |
| 00:30:05 | Adding “re-cycled” buildings |
| 00:31:22 | Designing the main museum building and cart sheds |
| 00:32:33 | Unsuccessful attempt at getting funny story! |
| 00:35:21 | Skilled volunteers |
| 00:36:47 | Involvement in 2013 restoration project |