Below is a message from Gavin Morgan of the Guildford Heritage Forum which we encourage you to study and participate in:
I am writing from the Guildford Heritage Forum to encourage as many groups as possible to voice their opinions on the future of Guildford Museum.
Guildford Museum was founded just over 100 years ago when the Borough purchased Guildford Castle. Situated in a seventeenth century house in Quarry Street it is (depending on your opinion) charming, dated, possibly too small and yet perfectly situated in the most historic part of the town.
The museum has been neglected for a number of years and following the failure of the second of two lottery bids earlier this year the Council decide to carry out a review into the future of the museum.
We formed the Guildford Heritage Forum to allow the public to get involved in the debate. The review will be publishing its report on 16th November and there will be a public consultation. We will write to you nearer the time but this is what we currently know
What we now know
1. Castle Arch (i.e. the oldest part of the existing museum) is not going to be sold
2. The Council has expressly denied that they do not want to sell the Quarry Street site to fund a budget gap. They want to spend some money on a "visitor centre and museum" preferably in a more central location
3. Their preferred option is to move the museum away from Quarry Street. Under this plan 48 Quarry Street will be sold to pay for a museum elsewhere which would be set up eventually as a trust.
4. All of the above comes from statements from Councillors and must be seen as their opinions. How much influence their opinions have we will have to see but there is also a review going on and we have been told that all options are open
5. The review is looking at 6 sites as well as considering the possibility of staying at Quarry Street. We don't know what these sites are.
For further information please visit our website: www.guildfordheritageforum.co.uk
Gavin Morgan
