Re: Support needed for Wiltshire Heritage Museum | Forum

T

thesweetcheat Jan 4, 2012 21:12:11

Replying to Rhiannon

Rhiannon wrote:

oh yes it wasn't supposed to be a dig at your suggestion. I'm just railing at the idea that it should even get to a stage where people think having a jumble sale Or Whatever is an appropriate recourse. You know who would probably love it, it'd be his big society pulling together wouldn't it. Well sod that. In Wiltshire libraries are being kept open by people volunteering. Well that's all very lovely But, by stepping forward to do that, they're showing they accept it's fine to close libraries. And this (Wiltshire again) smacks of the same thing to me. Sets a precedent so other libraries, museums, whatever, elsewhere, are also put at risk because 'well Wiltshire have managed'.

Also, why shouldn't librarians be paid to do a job which is clearly valuable? It's appalling that you can sack people because they're "not needed" but then expect that someone else will just step in and do then job for nothing.

I fancy a go at brain surgery, me. Any objections? I'll do it for free, it'll be fine.

T

tjj Jan 4, 2012 21:17:34

Replying to Rhiannon

Rhiannon wrote:

oh yes it wasn't supposed to be a dig at your suggestion. I'm just railing at the idea that it should even get to a stage where people think having a jumble sale Or Whatever is an appropriate recourse. You know who would probably love it, it'd be his big society pulling together wouldn't it. Well sod that. In Wiltshire libraries are being kept open by people volunteering. Well that's all very lovely But, by stepping forward to do that, they're showing they accept it's fine to close libraries. And this (Wiltshire again) smacks of the same thing to me. Sets a precedent so other libraries, museums, whatever, elsewhere, are also put at risk because 'well Wiltshire have managed'.

It does seem immoral to make people redundant and then allow same people (if willing) to work as volunteers. As it happens I don't think many, if any, former library employees did step forward - I know of one who took a part-time job as a driver for Asda to try and keep his family afloat.

It wasn't my intention to irritate anyone by starting this thread - I just know how committed David Dawson and his team are; and what a true treasure the museum is. I guess they'll end up just opening two or three days a week.

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nigelswift Jan 5, 2012 10:07:59

Replying to Rhiannon

"I'm just railing at the idea that it should even get to a stage where people think having a jumble sale Or Whatever is an appropriate recourse. You know who would probably love it, it'd be his big society pulling together wouldn't it. Well sod that."

Yes, yes yes! (I agree).

It's also probably the fact that concerts and jumble sales won't suffice, it needs a real big chunk. So then you have to wonder where you get the chunk from, is any heritage expenditure more worthy, and the answer is probably no. I can think of two less worthy chunks of spending that could be diverted -

1. The £millions given to ....... for finding stuff. Give them a tenth of that and lock 'em up if they try to sell it themselves.

2, The bucketloads being spent on the Stonehenge VC, like you mentioned. See this http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/interpretation-to-be-a-minor-element-of-the-stonehenge-visitor-centre/
Worse, was it a slip of the tongue when the EH spokesman recently referred to the new Stonehenge VC as a "museum"? That would do the Devizes one a world of good wouldn't it?

N

nigelswift Jan 5, 2012 10:19:15

Replying to Rhiannon

It's not just Wilts, they're killing culture everywhere https://rescue.crowdmap.com/main