Business proposals could save two visitor attractions in Cannock and Hednesford

Express & Star

Volunteers at The Museum of Cannock Chase and the leader of the districts Green Party are amongst people trying to come up with alternatives to save it and the Prince of Wales Theatre

Transcript

00:00Expressandstar.com, we're here at Canock Chase Council House ahead of the

00:05crucial budget meeting this evening. We're here with Andrea Muckley, Spencer

00:11Houghton and Peter Ross. Now Andrea, if I can speak to you first of all, you've got a

00:17big interest in the Museum of Canock Chase and also the Prince of Wales

00:21Theatre, just explain a little. I do, so I'm a local councillor for Wandsley and

00:25Hemsford Hills, so this is right on my doorstep. My family go regularly to the

00:32Museum of Canock Chase and it's actually my favourite, my favourite museum and my

00:36daughter's favourite museum, so she made this beautiful placard when we came to

00:40protest before Christmas. How old's your daughter? She's nine years old and she

00:45absolutely adores the Museum of Canock Chase. We go quite often to events during

00:50half-term but even just on a weekend we'll go along and she loves going

00:53through the mine and playing in the children's room, so it's a wonderful

00:57place for whole families to go. The theatre, she is in a dance and

01:03acrobatics troupe and they do a show every two years and they perform on the

01:09stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Unfortunately this year that won't

01:13happen, so we've had to move venue which has brought extra cost, extra heartache

01:18and extra stress for the people in charge and for the children, so

01:23we're looking forward to the show but it's a real shame that it won't be at

01:27the Prince of Wales. And Peter, you are part of Canock Chase Shed which you've

01:33got two workshops at the Museum of Canock Chase, just tell us a little bit

01:37about what you do there. Yes, I'm a trustee and treasurer of Canock Chase

01:42Shed. We've got two workshops, only one of them is at the museum though, we have

01:46another workshop somewhere else. Canock Chase Shed is a registered charity, we

01:51make, mend and upcycle things for local community groups, any community group

01:56that wants something, that they want mending, fixing, producing, we'll have a

02:00go at doing it for them. Our workshop at the Museum of Canock Chase is where we

02:06tend to do our larger items. If the museum is to close and we are kicked out

02:11of our workshop that will seriously reduce the ability to do larger projects,

02:18it'll have a big impact on membership, we won't be able to have as many

02:22members as we've got. Membership has gone up from five, six years ago, to 40

02:28people now. We would have to lose members, restrict severely the amount of

02:32projects that we can do. It'll have a big impact. Our workshop group is primarily

02:37there to improve the mental health, the well-being of people, generally of an

02:44older age group who are looking for something to do in their retirement

02:48years, helping each other and helping the local community.

02:52And Spencer, you're a volunteer at the Museum of Canock Chase, we've heard there about

02:57Peaks' group, they're probably the ones you don't always hear about in the

03:02headlines when it's under threat and you've got an idea, a good idea you're

03:07talking about with the council, to save it if it does come under the budget cuts.

03:13Yes, what we're doing, if everything goes as we anticipate tonight, then we're

03:20going to be setting up a community interest company and we will be looking

03:26to redevelop and build on what the museum has now and actually to reopen it

03:33in this quicker time as we possibly can. Yeah, would that be part of a consortium,

03:39a community interest group? Yes, it's a community interest company, so we are looking for

03:44volunteers to come and help out because there's a lot of work to do between now

03:49and when we close officially, if it goes as we think it is at the end of April, so

03:55we've got a lot of work to do, so if there are volunteers who want to come

03:58and help, please get in contact. If you've got business experience, please get in

04:03contact, we need as many people with lots of skills to get in contact with the CIC

04:08to make it work. We really need this wonderful gem to reopen if it closes,

04:13which we hope it won't, but that's what it looks like tonight.

04:17Okay, thanks for talking to me.

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