URGENT!
NORTH NORFOLK GEOLOGY MUSEUM: PROPOSAL TO BE AXED
WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT
Please take a few minutes to read the following. The first paragraph and the
last two are especially important. Thank you for your time.
Many of you have been involved over the last year with developing plans for a
new geology, palaeontology and climate change museum (to include the West
Runton Elephant material) to be located in North Norfolk near Cromer.
Unfortunately this project is about to be terminated as part of the shocking
£363,000 worth of cuts that the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service is
being forced to implement.
BACKROUND
In addition to this innovative project being terminated three of our smaller
museums are to close completely with the loss of many jobs, and once again
curatorial posts have been a prime focus of the cuts and in particular
natural
history. Three years ago there were four full-time curators in the natural
history Department, now there is only one. As usual, not a single management
position has been cut despite four of the management posts being newly
created
in the last three years. Incredibly, this is all taking place just a couple
of
months before we know what the funding implications will be of the
long-awaited
Regional Hubs system. Yet this museum service is supposed to be the regional
hub for the whole of the eastern regions.
THE PROPOSED NEW MUSEUM
In addition to displaying the huge, spectacular and unique West Runton
Elephant
and having permanent exhibitions dedicated to the sciences of geology,
palaeontology, environmental change and climate research, the proposed new
museum was intended to house Norfolk Museums Services’ nationally and
internationally important geology collection. This geology collection
includes
hundreds of Type, Figured and Noted specimens and has the best collection of
Pleistocene fossil mammals outside the Natural History Museum in London. The
international importance of this material greatly assisted the whole museum
service in attaining Designation Status from the Museum and Galleries
Commission just a few years ago. Scientifically it is the most important
collection in the whole of the Museums Service. This collection, despite its
importance and the need to be available for research, has already been in
temporary accommodation for the last three years (and has been moved twice in
that time) since being moved out of the Castle Museum during the
Redevelopment
Project. The collection is currently completely inaccessible to researchers
and
enthusiasts, lying in crates in an unguarded warehouse. There has been no
geology on display in a museum within the county of Norfolk in the last three
years, with the exception of one small tabletop case in Cromer. Despite
environmental studies and climate change featuring increasingly strongly
within the National Curriculum.
The proposed new geology/climate change Museum was intended to rectify these
issues by drawing on major capital funding from outside the Museums Service
(European funding and Heritage Lottery Fund). The Museum Service was not
providing a budget for the development of the project and all the work has
been
undertaken within a curatorial post. This post is also about to be axed along
with the project. Therefore no great savings are being made other than a
portion of a salary, despite the magnitude of what could be gained if the
project went ahead. The project was to include the much needed conservation
and
documentation of the collection. The facility was supposed to provide
permanent
suitable storage for the collections, provide complete access to the
collections for researchers and enthusiasts, and to display world-class
material from a wealth of geological, palaeontological and archaeological
sites
in the region, focusing on the extreme climate changes of the past two
million
years and how they are recorded in our landscape. This would have included
specimen-rich displays showcasing fossils and Old Stone Age archaeology from:
the UK’s best Neanderthal site discovered just last year; the oldest hominid
site in North West Europe, and West Runton - including one of the largest
elephant skeletons ever found. A detailed chronology of European climate
changes during the Pleistocene and Holocene were to be addressed with
specific
specimen-rich displays of local examples from within our collections. Other
displays would have recounted the history of climate change research, current
research techniques, forecasting climate changes expected in the future, and
how to reduce or mitigate these changes through lifestyle choices. The
building
itself was to have been part of the display, designed to be completely
ecologically sound and generating all it own electricity (possibly with an
offshore windfarm) and generating zero emissions - as any museum specialising
in climate change should do. Now none of this will be displayed in any
capacity. The siting of the facility near Cromer in North Norfolk was
important
as it is a unique location where visitors can see a wide range of geological
deposits in the cliffs and foreshore, representing everything from warm,
shallow, tropical seas to glacial conditions just a few steps away from a
Museum dedicated to the subject.
The Museum was to be North Norfolk’s only all weather, year-round tourist
attraction, and would have provided a great economic boost to the area as
well
as providing a much needed educational facility. It would also have provided
the only temporary exhibition space in North Norfolk and housed study
rooms, a
lecture theatre and extensive lab facilities for visiting schools and
students.
Located right on the coast it would also have provided a refreshing
combination
of field study centre as well as museum and tourist attraction.
This project has been strongly endorsed by a partnership with North Norfolk
District Council and the University of East Anglia’s Climate Change Unit,
Earth
Sciences Department and Tyndall Centre. Although these organisations gave
their
wholehearted support to what they thought was a great idea for the region
economically and for the benefit of science and education nationally, there
is
nothing they can do to progress the project forward once it has been
terminated
by the Museums Service.
Not only will we lose the chance to build Europe’s only Climate Change
museum,
to educate people about the interrelated subjects of palaeontology, geology,
archaeology, biology, natural climate change, anthropogenic climate change
and
how we can change the future, but to all intents and purposes we are losing
the
geology collection. It will become even less accessible than it has ever
been,
with no curator left within the museum service with any knowledge of its
contents. There are no alternative plans to house, display, or preserve the
collection. The West Runton Elephant will never go on public display.
PLEASE HELP - TIME IS VERY SHORT
The Director of our Museums Service will be meeting with Norfolk County
Council’s Joint Museums Committee on January 17th - just next Friday - to
explain in detail how the cuts are going to be executed and what savings will
be made. It is up to this Committee to allow the cuts to go ahead, or
alternatively to give individual posts or projects a reprieve.
It is possible that if enough letters of support for the project are received
by the Joint Museums Committee by next Friday, this new geology/climate
change
museum project might be given a reprieve. If there are no protests at its
demise from people who care then it will certainly not be spared and the
geology collections will remain inaccessible for a very long time indeed.
Please could you support this project by spending just ten minutes writing a
letter of support for the project if you feel you are able. Send letters or
emails to Councillor Heather Bolt (address below), and also please send
copies
of your correspondence to the three other individuals whose details are below.
Please pass this email on to anyone you think would be interested, and
remember
that we have only one week to make a difference! Feel free to contact me for
more details. Many thanks indeed for your support.
With best wishes, Nigel Larkin.
Please send letters to:
County Councillor Mrs Heather Bolt
Chairman of the Norfolk Joint Museums Committee
C/o Democratic Services, Norfolk County Council, County Hall,
Martineau Lane, Norwich. NR1 2DH.
Email: [log in to unmask]
Vanessa Trevelyan, Director,
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, Shirehall, Market Avenue, Norwich,
Norfolk. NR1 3JQ.
Email: [log in to unmask]
Councillor Mrs Hilary Nelson,
5 Alexandra Road, Sheringham, Norfolk. NR26 8HU.
If you do not mind your letter appearing in the public domain, then please
send
a copy to a very pro-museums, pro-geology local journalist Paul Hill:
Paul Hill, Public Affairs Correspondent, Eastern Daily Press, Prospect House,
Rouen Road, Norwich. NR1 1RE.
Email: [log in to unmask]
MANY THANKS INDEED.
Nigel R. Larkin BA MSc Telephone 07973 869613 fax: 01603 493623
Curator and Conservator, The Natural History Department,
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service,
Norwich Castle Study Centre Shirehall,
Market Avenue, Norwich, Norfolk. NR1 3JQ.
http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/tourism/museums
Associated Member of the "Ancient Hominid Occupation of Britain Project"
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/ahob/
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