VisitEngland is encouraging tourists to make the most of the sights and experiences on offer at free museums across the country.
Laura Smith, destination public relations manager at VisitEngland, said the wealth of free attractions available makes a domestic getaway a good option for people hoping to go away without spending too much money after Christmas.
She highlighted a number of sites in some major cities that do not ask visitors to pay for entry.
“From the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to the Merseyside Maritime Museum and London’s Imperial War Museum, England has world-class interactive museums for families – plus all of these are absolutely free,” said Ms Smith.
Following talks instigated by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to get the best possible deal for the local economy, London-based Mace Group, which is building Sainsbury’s superstore on the Churnet Works site, off Macclesfield Road, Leek, has promised to sub-contract work to local companies where possible.
Mace would like to award sub-contracts for services including scaffolding and skip hire. The company also wants to hear from local builders’ merchants able to supply it with goods and services.
Expressions of interest are sought from recruitment agencies able to source a range of temporary workers and existing sub-contractors may already have temporary vacancies for general labourers.
Cllr Andrew Hart, portfolio holder for regeneration, urged businesses not to miss out: “This is a great opportunity for local companies and sole traders to pick up new business, and we welcome Mace’s commitment to letting local firms know about and have a chance to win contracts.”
Following the huge success of the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition being held in Washington, museums across the United States are queuing up to exhibit treasures from the Hoard.
Birmingham Museum and The Potteries Museum, the joint owners of the Staffordshire Hoard, are considering exhibiting in other parts of America to raise funds for research.
The head of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Rita McLean said: “It has been wonderful to see the treasure in Washington, and we will be looking into how we can build on this success elsewhere in the States.”
The Phoenix Trust’s website North Staffordshire Coalfield is the Independent Voice of North Staffordshire’s Heritage Community.
A non-profit making foundation, the trust supports the aims and objectives of local people who are working so hard to save our region’s heritage and reform local government by creating town councils.
The trust invites members of community groups and other organisations to use its website site to publicise their campaigns and increase public support.
We welcome Posts and Comments from historians, members of civic societies and community leaders on all aspects of North Staffordshire’s social, economic, political and administrative history as well as their views on the region’s heritage based community regeneration projects.
Keighley is a market town in West Yorkshire with a population of over 50,000. Made a borough in the 1880s, the town lost its independence when forced to merge with the City of Bradford in 1974.
The merger caused a lot of bitterness. Resentment grew when local people realised they were getting a raw deal from the city council and a campaign was launched to make Keighley a civil parish. Despite widespread opposition from city councillors, the campaign was successful and Keighley obtained a town council in 2002.
The town council recently acquired Keighley’s old police station and former magistrates’ court which are being converted into a civic centre and a museum. Alan Parry, special projects officer for the town council, said the development is expected to attract visitors from all over the UK.
The ground floor will house an inter-active police museum complete with Victorian cells and an 1892 horse-drawn black maria.
West Yorkshire Police scenes-of-crime officers have created two gruesome crime scenes for children of different ages to solve and actors in costume will take visitors round the museum.
Diaries, kept by police officers between 1887 and 1889, have been recovered from the library and will be on display in the museum. There will also be exhibits of crime detection from the Victorian era to the 1980s and a chance to read graffiti scrawled by real prisoners in the tiny outdoor exercise yard.
As well as civic offices and a meeting room for the council, the building will contain a coffee bar, a gift shop, debt management and housing advice centres, a police contact point, a community meeting room and a visitor information centre. It will also have corporate function facilities, a high-class restaurant with a bar and a forensic science education centre – the only one of its kind in the country.
Schools and colleges will be able to hire the space to learn about the latest evidence-gathering techniques and will have access to materials provided by West Yorkshire Police.
Alan Parry said: “It is a great asset for Keighley. We will have the only visitor centre that facilitates the study of forensic science in the country. We will attract schools and colleges from all over the country and bring the benefit to the people of Keighley.
“We are doing what we can to bring back the facilities we feel we have lost in Keighley over the last few years. The whole scheme is designed to support the community.”
He went on to say that a theatre management company would manage the museum, the education centre and the eating facilities, adding they would pay the running costs and had agreed a profit-sharing deal with the town council.
Photograph by Tim Green licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Editor’s Note
As regular readers of posts on this site know, the Phoenix Trust supports the campaign which has recently been launched to give Fenton a town council. “Keighley shows what a town council can do” is the first in a series of occasional posts looking at the work of town councils throughout the country. Future posts will give an account of the services town councils provide and highlight their achievements.
Due to spammers, we have had to disable auto registration to the site. If you wish to register please Email the site admin at website{@}northstaffordshire.co.uk (without the {brackets}) and we will be pleased to add you to our mailing list. We promise we don't share your details with any third party and we never Email attachments.
Why not register for our forum whilst you're here. Take the link and register to have your say today.
Button
