Re: Support needed for Wiltshire Heritage Museum | Forum

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Support needed for Wiltshire Heritage Museum

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moss Jan 5, 2012 10:43:24

Replying to thesweetcheat

thesweetcheat wrote:

It's very sad than when public interest in prehistory is probably greater than it's ever been (if the raft of TV series that have been on over the last couple of years is any indication), that such a valuable collection is having to fight to survive. I hate to say it, but the problem may be partly due to the fact that it's based in a relatively small town, rather than being in London.

Publicity is clearly needed, but you have to get people to go to Devizes in the first place - perhaps they could link up more with other local attractions?

Being based in a small town is the problem of course with the Devizes Museum, 20 odd miles from Bath, from which the tourists go to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Avebury and it gets bypassed on the way. It is an important musuem for the area and is historic in its own right.
Many years ago we used to go to the museum on the course I was doing in archaeology, and some of the people from the course were volunteers there. Volunteer work was also done at the Bath & Camerton Society as well, so we should'nt necessarily condemn voluntary work, it only becomes bad when people get thrown out of jobs...

thesweetcheat Jan 5, 2012 22:33:28

Replying to moss

moss wrote:

Many years ago we used to go to the museum on the course I was doing in archaeology, and some of the people from the course were volunteers there. Volunteer work was also done at the Bath & Camerton Society as well, so we should'nt necessarily condemn voluntary work, it only becomes bad when people get thrown out of jobs...

No, you're quite right to make that point about voluntary work Moss. Much extremely valuable work is done by the voluntary sector. What annoys is the idea that a job is seen as "surplus to requirements" when it's paid, but then acknowledging that actually, yes we did need someone to do that after all, so let's get someone to do it for nowt (and without the training, experience, etc that it was previously done with).

I firmly believe in the public sector and in the state taking responsibility (i.e providing funding) for things that benefit everyone. Sadly the Big Society concept appears to be diametrically at odds with that idea. The concept appears to work on the basis that the rich don't need "public"services because they can pay flunkies to attend to their medical needs, empty their bins, keep the grass verges around Witney nicely manicured, etc, whereas the "poor" don't need any of those things (because they're too busy being worked into the ground to have the time for illness, or leisure, or education).

So the message from the government is that if we really have to have these things, let Society provide them for themselves on a voluntary basis, why should the government pay for them? It has better things to spend your money on, like buying guns (to keep up the appearance of being an Important Country) and keeping the banks happy. Bah.