Dear All,
I'm very sorry to have to start the new year with some extremely concerning news from Ludlow. Please see the following email from Michael Rosenbaum.
I will raise this for discussion at the GCG Committee meeting on 20th January, and would be pleased to receive any comments for consideration,
Regards,
Mike.
Dr Mike Howe
GCG Collections Officer
Phone: 0115 9363105 Email: [log in to unmask]
WSB UGN - British Geological Survey
Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Rosenbaum
Sent: 24 December 2014 12:12
Subject: Ludlow Museum Resource Centre
The imminent threat to the Ludlow Museum Resource Centre as a result of the Council issuing redundancy notices to all three of its staff needs to be addressed. By all means circulate this email amongst your colleagues in order to raise awareness of the situation. This has now been picked up by the local press:
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/12/24/ludlow-museum-staff-in-redundancy-fear/
It would appear that the Council intends to manage the facility from Shrewsbury, but for some years the County Museum Service has concentrated all staff and collections concerned with the natural sciences at Ludlow. It is of course both unreasonable and impractical to expect staff at Shrewsbury lacking experience in these scientific fields to service the needs of enquirers and researchers wishing to consult the scientific collections for the county, and it also means there will be no geological staff left to support educational sessions with schools and universities.
Without appropriate staffing it is thought likely that the Resource Centre will be mothballed, thereby preventing access by those wishing to consult the collections, as has already happened in Herefordshire.
The Resource Centre was designed and built to allow for the long-term care of the Shropshire County Museum Service’s most important collections, including all the natural science holdings that used to be in Shrewsbury. It currently provides secure environmentally controlled storage and importantly allows public access to the collections through dedicated education and research rooms as well as more exhibition space for objects than available in the town museum in Castle Square Ludlow.
Meanwhile, the town museum, which hitherto provided the main interface with the public, is closed pending relocation to the upper floor of the Butter Cross, although it is unclear how this could be achieved since reconstruction of that building is not due to be completed until after the Resource Centre staff have left under the terms of their redundancy!
If you have any views, or wish to express your objection to this proposal, then please send them to Louise Cross at <[log in to unmask]>, copied to me. Louise Cross is the person on the Council who issued the redundancy notices.
Best wishes,
Michael Rosenbaum
Ludlow resident and Emeritus Professor in Engineering Geology
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