19th November

Today, we launched the petition and campaign and got an official looking logo. There's no stopping us now.

We are campaigning for LCC to give us one more year for Helmshore and Queen Street, during which time we will find an alternative. We want LCC to give us until April 2017, rather than April 2016 to find an alternative to closure.

£500,000 has been added to the budget for museums for next year. Use it to keep Helmshore and Queen Street (even if they close with fewer staff for this time) until we can set up a trust and  a viable business plan to make these museums work as local attractions.

Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/councillor-jennifer-mein-save-lancashire-s-mill-museums?recruiter=430344566&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default

Obviously it is a terrible time for the council and keeping a museum service may not be a financially viable option for LCC, but we deserve more time to find an alternative way of keeping out heritage.

Jennifer Mein has been in touch to say: 

Dear Sarah

Thank you so much for emailing me and your offer of help, I'll speak to the CE and arrange for someone to get back to you as soon as possible.

These are really difficult times but we will do our best to try to enable the museums to remain viable,

Regards

Jennifer

There is hope.

Helmshore Mill Textile Museum and Queen Street Mill in Lancashire together make up the last surviving example in the world of spinning and weaving of the Industrial Revolution.

Recognised by Arts Council England, through their designation scheme as 'world class collections' which 'are a lasting source of inspiration and enjoyment for generations of users'1 our museums are now under threat of closure as Lancashire County Council plans to close them in a bid to save £262M by 2020.

This is a completely short sighted view. Of the overall cuts which need to be made, the closure of five Lancashire Museums will achieve only a saving of around £5M in this timeframe2. That's only 1.9% of the savings that need to be made. One percent over 5 years and we lose over two hundred year's of Lancashire's unique Industrial heritage.

Helmshore and Queen Street keep alive the otherwise extinct process of cotton spinning and weaving in Lancashire- once the industrial heart of the country. In these museums you can 'trace the history of weaving and spinning through the displays of handlooms, power looms, flying shuttles, dobbies, jacquards, water frames, drop spindles and powerful spinning mules. Many contain original machines, and a number are still in working order and demonstrated on a regular basis. Queen Street Mill contains a unique collection of machinery which has been preserved in situ, including the original Lancashire boiler, the 500 horse power tandem compound steam engine ‘Peace, the line shafting throughout the mill and the 19th century looms connected to it.'3

By 1860 there were 2650 cotton mills in Lancashire, employing 440 000 people and producing half of the world’s cotton4.

We now have two left. We can't afford to lose them.

Save the Mills is a blog to track the progress as we work together to #SaveTheMills