Guildford borough Council is thinking about closing and selling off much of it heritage service. Why? Faced with the need to find almost £20 million in Council budget savings by 2027 the Council needs to save money. But will these cuts save much? Will they instead just throw away opportunities future generations will regret? Imagine…
Category: Heritage Services Future
Feb 2023 Heritage Service Options
On 23rd February the Executive of Guildford Borough Council agreed to close the Victorian schoolroom . The report into the closure stated that “the Heritage Service is currently under review and a range of desired outcomes have been agreed with Directors and various Councillors (see Appendix 1). These outcomes will help secure a long-term sustainable…
Victorian Schoolroom Closure
On 23rd February the Council decided to close the Victorian Schoolroom in 39½ Castle Street as part of an ongoing review. The school opened in 2001 and has provide a unique education experience to around 2000 school children each year. The service just about covered is costs through charges to schools. The decision to sell…
Guildford Tourist Office Review
The future of Guildford’s tourist information centre (TIC) is in doubt as councillors heard that providing an online service could save the council £70,000. The TIC is currently housed in Guildford House Gallery, a Grade I listed townhouse and art gallery in Guildford High Street. Its potential closure was discussed at a meeting of Guildford…
April 2022 – Museum Friends donate new cataloguing system
The Guildford Dragon has reported that the Friends of Guildford Museum have “made a generous gift to it of a computerised system for keeping records of all the around 100,000 objects in the collection.” Collections manager Sarah Fairhurst said they had already started getting the entire collection onto the CMS but “it will take decades…
April 2022 – Guildford Museum needs a plan
Guildford Museum is not exactly a dynamic advert for the town. It has been struggling for years and has hardly changed in decades. Visitor numbers are at an all time low. Councillor’s appear divided. Some see heritage as an asset and some as a burden. However, I think the Council should make more of its…
The Future of Guildford’s Heritage – November 2021 Review
In the current financial climate it seems very likely there will be cuts to the heritage service but Guildford is unlikely to get rid of its service completely. So, how can Guildford get the most from its investment in heritage? The Council needs to accurately assess the costs of the service and understand in detail…
May 2021 – Guildford Museum re-opens after Covid
Guildford Museum has reopened with a new exhibition on John Russell, the 18th century portrait painter to the rich and famous. The museum underwent a redecoration in 2019-20 and is much smarter. In fact the staff has done about as much as could be done without actually re-doing all the displays. During this period Guildford…
July 2020 – Museum re-opens after essential repairs
Museum re-opens July 2020 July 2020 – the Council issued a statement “Guildford Museum is looking forward to welcoming visitors back after being closed for the past twelve months for essential repairs providing another free attraction to visit in our historic town centre. The museum opens with a temporary exhibition ‘Commemoration and Celebration’ to commemorate…
May 2020 – Covid 19 halts Lottery Bid
By Gavin Morgan – 22nd May 2020 Plans to support the High Street with an £18 million revamped museum extension, cafe and entrance from the Castle Grounds have been halted. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has frozen lottery applications for the foreseeable future to free up resources to help existing projects through Covid-19. In these difficult…