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Devizes Museum

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VenerableBottyBurp V
VenerableBottyBurp Feb 16, 2007 17:08:02
Replying to Littlestone

You are quite right of course, but museums only survive if they have numbers coming through the doors.

The biggest museum visitor numbers in Wiltshire are to the two museums that feature in films - Harry Potter sent Lacock Fox Talbot figures soaring just as Pride & Prejudice on BBC did a few years before. Castle Combe being in Dr Dolittle being the other big hit. These figures are far above those for the AK in Avebury which is the next biggest. Devizes is a lot lower and it being named as one of the top 30 museums in the UK doesn't make it visited enough to qualify for dosh.

I don't know if I would like to see the library dissappear off to Stonehnge, but the building is bursting at the seams. The library work Pete mentioned was to both waterproof the walls and ceiling but also to convert part of the lecture area and joint gallery as they just have so many problems functioning. If the collection was moved it would democratise and contextualise what is shown at Stonehenge and leave enough room to get other stuff sorted in Devizes. Plus the money earned at Stonehenge would pay for the biui;lding at Vizes.

Just a thought,

VBB

L Littlestone
Littlestone Feb 16, 2007 18:33:59
Replying to VenerableBottyBurp

Devizes is a lot lower and it being named as one of the top 30 museums in the UK doesn't make it visited enough to qualify for dosh.
Aye, sad though it is I can see the logic in that. Better make sure though that any money earned at Stonehenge from the Devizes Museum collection is channelled back to Devizes. I wouldn't trust the buggers (the powers that be) one iota; they're likely to cream off the best of the Devizes collection and, when visitors to the Museum drop even further (as presumably they will), they'll have the perfect excuse to scale the Museum down even further (or close it completely).

As I said above, I don't know what the politics are here but I'd hang on to the ace card (the collection) as long as possible and play that one (transfer of part of the collection) only after the best possible deal's been done.