Red House Museum is in my ward and there is little secret to it being "under threat" due to the Conservative and Lib-Dem Government imposed spending cuts. It's a great shame that we may potentially lose use of this building.
There has been a lot of coverage in the local press about falling visitor numbers at Kirklees Museums and there is always going to be the "use it or loose it" element surrounding all our services. However, with museums I always believe it is important that even though we are not visiting them each weekend that they are there for future use.That said, I have not had many Liversedge and Gomersal residents beating a path to my door to ask for the museum to be saved. I am very curious to know how many in the ward would miss Red House if it were to be bought by a private owner. The only people who have contacted me expressing their concern have been from outside of the ward and branch members of the local Labour Party.
The suggestions that have come from them do not see the museum being run in its present form. Many seem to like the wedding venue plan and some even think it should be run as a cafe. All seem to think that preservation of the museums future is, at least in part, as a commercial concern. There does seem to be an understanding that in these hard times, there needs to be new thinking around how our museums are run. Or is the future based in the volunteer sector?
Maybe the real test of the publics love for these buildings is if they are willing to run them themselves.
