Right chaps, it's time. Councillors will meet on Thursday to vote on the proposals to cut funding to the museums service.
Realistically, they will vote yes to cutting funding to this service.
However, you fantastic people have all asked them to revise the cuts outlined in the proposals to give us one more year to come up with an alternative model to run the museums at Helmshore and Queen Street without council funding. I need to submit this tomorrow so they can consider it when they discuss the cuts. Don't worry, I will look after this bit.
However, I NEED YOUR HELP. A Councillor has told me that despite having 3000 signatures, this only counts as one document because it just means I have made a point that you all agree with. If you really want to help you need to email Councillor Jennifer Mein, Councillor Margaret Brindle (Queen Street is under her remit) and and ask her the same thing that I have.
If you need ideas, here is a step-by-step guide:
1. Open a new email and type 'Jennifer.Mein@lancashire.gov.uk' (if you live in Lancashire) and margaret.brindle@lancashire.gov.uk (if you live in Burnley) and dave.stansfield@lancashire.gov.uk (if you live in Helmshore) in the address bar
2. Dear Councillor Mein, Councillor Brindle or Councillor Stansfield,
3. I do not want the council to cut funding to the Mill Museums at Helmshore and Queen Street because:
- I am entitled to my heritage
- They are a nationally important part of British history
- The Mills are an important part of where I live
- The Mill Museums bring tourists to the area which my business depends on
- I bring my children there to help them learn
- They are an essential part of our history
- Filming goes on there which makes our local area interesting
- I would be interested in helping as a volunteer if they stay open
- I am a local history enthusiast with skills I could volunteer, such as maintaining the steam engine at Queen Street
- I work as a teacher and I rely on these museums to teach my lessons
- I bring my community group to visit
- Or something else that you love about these mills
5. Yours sincerely,
6. WRITE YOUR NAME AND YOUR ADDRESS (including your postcode)
Please encourage as many people to do this as possible. It will strengthen the cause and make the council take our appeal seriously.
It will take you two minutes and you could save our history forever.
I sent the following, which I'm happy for others to adapt and send:
ReplyDelete'Dear Councillors,
I am writing to express my concern at the proposed cuts to funding for Helmshore and Queen Street Mills. While I am aware of the pressures on local government funds due to national cuts, I would ask that interim funding be maintained at least until an alternative plan is in place to keep the museums open. As a historian working on the period of the Industrial Revolution, I believe that both museums have the potential to illuminate histories of the working classes, and especially of working women. Lancashire's mills not only tell us about locally important histories, but can also be used to educate the public about the global connections which forged the industrial revolution, such as the reliance of the cotton industry on slave labour.
Aside from their historical significance, the mill museums have an important role to play for Lancashire communities, as a place to meet and remember. Prior to her death last year, my Grandmother visited Queen Street Mill with my parents, enabling her reminiscence about her own past as a mill worker, prompting her to tell her own stories. The enjoyment she took from doing this would not have been possible without the material prompts available in the museum. I believe that, not only for my grandmother, but also for many other older people in Lancashire, these links to the past have a therapeutic effect, especially where memory may otherwise be fading.
I very much hope that the Council is able to continue to support the vibrant heritage of our region so that others can enjoy it in years to come.
Yours sincerely,
Ruth Mather.'
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI'm also from Burnley and am on maternity leave from the V&A in London as senior designer there. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with this project! I go back to work in London in June but I'm still in Burnley on Mondays.
Jo