A new exhibition has opened at the Museum of Cannock Chase.

Express & Star

A new exhibition has opened at the Museum of Cannock Chase about local poet Nancy Foster. The organiser also expresses her thoughts about the potential closure of the museum.

Transcript

00:00Okay, Claire, so we're here at the Museum Mechanic Chase. We've just been looking at the exhibition and it's about Nancy Foster, isn't it?

00:08Yeah, yeah.

00:09Just explain what it's all about.

00:10Yeah, so the group has been working on work produced by Nancy Foster, poetry.

00:17She was a young lady in the 1920s who wrote the most amazing poems.

00:22And one of the areas that we were looking at is the Miner, which is fantastic for this area.

00:29And most of the students that we have here, they're really interested in the Miner because they've all come from that sort of background.

00:36And they live in the area of the Mechanic Chase area.

00:39Now, just correct me if I'm wrong, but the group's called Maths and English Made Easy Through Art, is that right?

00:45Yes, that's right, yeah.

00:46I mean, that's incredible. Just explain the concept of that, what it's all about.

00:50So basically, I put it in there. They don't even realise I do that.

00:55I throw in a little bit of maths, so we do a bit of measurements, calculations, ratios.

01:02So it's kind of a fun way, really, of learning maths through art.

01:05And then the English, we'll break down the poetry and stuff like that.

01:10So different wordings and definitions that they can use.

01:13Yeah, brilliant.

01:14Now, obviously, it's no secret that the museum's kind of in danger of potential closure.

01:21What do you think that would mean for the area, really?

01:24For the area, it's devastating.

01:26For people like, everyday folk like I've got here, where are they going to exhibit their artwork?

01:32Absolutely, yeah.

01:33They're not going to travel all the way over to Birmingham and spend thousands of pounds to put their own work on the walls.

01:39I mean, what do you think needs to be done to save it, really?

01:44Oh, it'd be brilliant if the government could actually put some money involved for these sort of places,

01:52like theatres and community centres and things like that.

01:56I mean, I know that they've put bills in Parliament over it.

02:00Let's just hope that somebody listens.

02:03I mean, there's big places over in Leeds and all places like that.

02:06Art galleries are closing down. I mean, it's just devastating. It really is.

02:10Absolutely, it is, yeah.

02:11So, back to the exhibition. How long is it here for?

02:13It's here until the 17th of March.

02:16And I'm going to say that there will also be alongside another Nancy Foster little exhibition,

02:21talking about her and her work.

02:24We have actually got Nancy Foster's nephew here, Malcolm,

02:28and he's given loads of memorabilia of his auntie,

02:35and that will all be on show as well over the next few months.

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