Event - Charity status for museum group (Newark)

A group that plans to raise up to £100,000 for Newark’s new Civil War museum has been awarded charity status.


The Friends of Newark and Sherwood Museum Service is working with the district council to create a museum at the Old Magnus Buildings, Appletongate.

The group’s fundraising officer, Anne Coyne, said the charity status was key to the plans to raise between £50,000 and £100,000.

She said it allowed them to apply to grant-making bodies that accepted applications only from registered charities.

An online fundraising website has been created on Localgiving.com

The website has matched funding days, when any donations made online are matched by Localgiving.com Ltd. The next matched funding day is on Monday.

Members of the group will tackle the Trent Vale Challenge next month, a 54-mile walk over four days from East Bridgford to Gainsborough.

The walk, from June 18 to 21, will raise money for the museum service and promote the heritage of the Trent Valley through a series of outreach events and short talks.

Lowe’s Wong Infants’ School, Southwell, and John Blow Primary School, Collingham, will be involved in events run by the museum’s education team.

There will be evening pub quizzes at the Royal Oak, East Bridgford, on June 17, at the Saracen’s Head, Southwell, on June 18, and at The Prince Rupert, Newark, on June 19.

The walk is supported by Trent Vale Landscape Partnership and RWE nPower at Staythorpe Power Station.

The group is also organising a vintage tea party on Saturday, May 26, at Millgate Museum and a tour of the ground floor of the Old Magnus Buildings.

Call Millgate Museum for details on 01636 655730.

Donations for the group can be made online at https://local giving.com/charity/friend sofnewarkandsherwoodmuse umservice

To join the walk or for event details email Anne Coyne on vcoyne@btinternet.com or call 01636 611640.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Charity-status-for-museum-group

News - Museum bid progresses (Newark)

The creation of a £5m museum at Newark’s Old Magnus Buildings is progressing after councillors agreed to submit a bid for about £3m to the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s cabinet agreed to the latest application, after previously receiving £200,000 from the fund to create a design for the project.

The project would see the Old Magnus Buildings, Appletongate, which include the historic Tudor Hall, transformed into a national Civil War museum.

District councillor Mr Roger Jackson, at a meeting last week, said the project was an exciting prospect.

“Hopefully our application for funding will go through and we will be able to create a better museum service in the district and bring a lot more people to Newark and Sherwood and the surrounding area,” he said.

Mr Tony Roberts said the museum would highlight Newark’s role in the nation’s history.

Mr Roger Blaney thought the project would encourage more tourists.

“It will give tourists the justification to come to Newark not just for the day, but to stay,” he said.

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Museum-bid-progresses

Event - Chance to adopt an artefact (Newark)

An Anglo-Saxon gold cross, a lead coffin, the bell from HMS Newark and a Roman silver earpick are among historic objects being offered for adoption as part of a fundraising initiative.

Mrs Rae Elliott, with an 18th Century smock, and Mr Glyn Hughes, with the bell from HMS Newark. (051211MW4-23)

The Friends of Newark and Sherwood Museum Service will launch the adopt-an-object initiative a week today.

Money raised will help with the restoration of the Old Magnus Buildings on Appletongate, where a new museum is being planned.

People will be able to browse displays at Millgate Museum, Newark, from 6pm to 9pm to see some of the objects not usually seen by the public.

Objects can be adopted for a minimum donation of £10 per year.

In return, people will receive a certificate of adoption, an information sheet on the adopted object and a credit on the group’s website for the duration of the adoption.

For more information contact Millgate Museum on 01636 655730.

From:  http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/view.asp?id=8a7b1e0a-7231-102f-ad62-73917bb4195d&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

News - Civil war centre a step nearer (Newark)

A planning application is set to be submitted for the long-awaited transformation of the Old Magnus Buildings, Newark, into the National Centre for Civil War Learning.

The plans include a modern, glass-fronted structure which would be added to the unoccupied buildings that were home to the original Magnus Grammar School on Appletongate.

The project development manager, Mrs Briony Robins, said the modern structure would add to the architectural heritage of the site, which includes the Tudor Hall, dating from 1529, plus a Georgian townhouse and Victorian schoolroom.

As part of the plans all three of the older buildings would be extensively restored and facilities for permanent and temporary exhibitions incorporated.

The Tudor Hall, which would be restored to its original colour scheme, could be a study area, meeting space and café.

Mrs Robins said the museum could bring an extra 26,000 visitors to Newark and the surrounding area, potentially drawing in up to £1m a year to the local economy.

In July, Newark and Sherwood District Council’s museums service commissioned concept drawings of how the interior could look.

The project is dependent on a successful bid for £2.8m to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The plans will be submitted to the district council’s planning department.

If they are approved the development, which will cost in excess of £4m, could be open by 2014.

The museum would need more than 60 volunteers to help run it.

Mrs Robins said: “This is more than just building a new museum. It is about creating a new community resource for learning.

“This venture will bring lots more visitors to Newark and Sherwood.

“We want to promote the historical significance of Newark because it is very undervalued.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund previously granted development money, which helped to pay for preliminary investigations and remedial works.

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Civil-war-centre-a-step-nearer

News - Pictorial project to honour war dead (Newarl/Balderton)

A project has been launched to match photographs to all the names on the Newark and Balderton war memorials.

It is hoped it will be completed in time for the 100th anniversary of the start of the first world war in 2014.

The project mirrors a much bigger one to find photographs of as many of the 72,000 British and Commonwealth casualties of the Battle of The Somme who have no known resting place and whose names are commemorated on the French Thiepval memorial to the missing.

There are 603 names on Newark’s Memorial To The Fallen at Newark Cemetery, of whom 456 are first world war casualties.

Another 144 are from the second world war, one died in West Africa in 1961, one in Malaya in 1952 and one in Afghanistan in 2007.

There are 45 names from the first world war on the memorial in St Giles’ Church, Balderton, and a further 13 from the second world war.

Mr Pete Stevens, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission stonemason, is behind the idea to match photographs with the names.

He suggested it at a meeting in Leicester about restoring war memorials there.

Mr Stevens, of Coleman Avenue, Balderton, said completing the project in time for 2014 would be a fitting testament to the memory of those who died.

He said: “If we could achieve this it would fantastic.

“It would be the perfect way to ensure that the memory of these men lives on for the next generation, and wonderful to have a gallery completed in time for August 4, 2014, which is the 100th anniversary of the declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany and her allies.

“A number of very special events are being planned nationally and this one I hope will capture the imagination.”

Mr Stevens plans to create a website where people can upload pictures of their relatives, along with items such as letters from the Front to create a more detailed insight into their lives.

Mr Stevens has already found some photographs of the dead through his work and through genealogy websites.

He has discovered the name of Private Levi Sibcy from 2/8th Sherwood Foresters, who was killed on January 15, 1915, aged 16, and is the youngest soldier recorded on either memorial.

He wants to know more about the six soldiers, also from 2/8th, who died of wounds sustained in the Irish uprising of 1916 and are on the Balderton memorial.

Mr Stevens wants people to trawl though family archives for pictures.

He plans to contact schools in the hope teachers will make research part of history lessons, and pupils will take news of the project home to their parents.

He hopes a home can be found for the gallery, possibly in Newark’s planned new museum which, subject to Lottery funding, would be created at the Old Magnus Buildings, Appletongate.

Any relative of one of the fallen featured on either memorial and who has a photograph of them or who can help in any kind of way can contact Mr Stevens via Petejstevens@hotmail.co.uk or contact the Advertiser newsdesk on 01636 681234.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Pictorial-project-to-honour-war-dead

News - Museum's future uncertain (Newark)

The future of Millgate Museum, Newark, looks uncertain as councillors are being urged to break the lease for the building.

A report to Newark and Sherwood District Council recommends withdrawal as soon as possible despite short-term financial loss.

The portfolio holder for leisure, Mr Roger Jackson, said tentative talks had taken place with the private consortium owners of the property, Wendgreen Ltd, to see if they could be released from the lease or a change of use be permitted.

The 30-year lease was taken out on April 7, 1995, and expires in 2025.

Mr Jackson said: “How an earlier council agreed to that lease beggars belief.

“It was a crazy bit of business and has tied us up in knots.”

His comments came at a meeting of the services overview and scrutiny committee.

Mr Brendan Haigh said the exhibits, such as an Edwardian/Victorian street scene, were looking tired given limitations of layout and space, and it might be better “to board it up” rather than keep it operating in its current guise.

“The whole aura of the place is tired,” he said.

Mr Haigh said he realised they had a lease and that they may have to make a loss in the short-term.

“The nettle of Millgate Museum must be grasped,” he said.

In addition to the street scene, installed more than 20 years ago, there are exhibitions centred on agriculture, trades and industry, Newark in the two world wars, and the legacy of the 20th Century.

Some exhibits could move to an agricultural museum planned at Newark Showground, it was said.

Mr Jackson said Millgate Museum was not Disability Discrimination Act compliant. A lift would probably need to be installed to meet the legislation.

He said much-needed money could be reinvested in creating a national Civil War museum on Appletongate at the Old Magnus Buildings and Tudor Hall.

Mr Jackson said the focus would be on Newark under siege.

Newark was laid siege three times by Parliamentarians and surrendered only when ordered to by King Charles I.

The council has until 2012 to develop detailed plans and apply for the £2.8m it needs from Heritage Lottery towards the £4.43m scheme.

It is believed 40,000 people a year could visit the interactive museum.

Speaking after the meeting, the council’s chief executive, Mr Andrew Muter, said: “The council is working on developing an exciting new museum at the Old Magnus Buildings about Newark’s history and the Civil War.

“If and when that project comes to fruition, the council will want to have considered the future of Millgate Museum but the time-scales for this are not yet clear.”

The scrutiny committee’s recommendation to the ruling cabinet is that: “the council should urgently negotiate withdrawal from Millgate Museum at the earliest opportunity accepting that this would incur costs in the short-term.”

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Museums-future-uncertain