In our last edition of CHARTISM Mag, we highlighted the plight of libraries and museums throughout Britain, including London. We offer our ‘Points of View’ platform to the Friends of Newport Museum and Art Gallery (FONMAG).
Richard Frame (Chair, FONMAG) calls upon the Newport City Council to produce a plan for the Museum’s future:
“When Newport City Council announced the closure of the existing building and the decanting of the collection into a warehouse somewhere in Newport, you’ll recall that the Friends leapt into action and set up a petition. Furthermore, the on line Council’s consultation process produced hundreds of comments supporting the retention of the museum. The Council amended its plans, but this did come at a cost. A number of staff were made redundant; heritage and library services were merged; the Reference Library was closed on the top floor, slimmed down and merged with the library on the first floor; and more importantly the running costs were only guaranteed until March 2017. This means there may only be one year left before the service is forced to close, as any further cuts would mean it just couldn’t keep the doors open. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be any real long-term plan regarding the service, and it is vital that the Friends continue to exert pressure and publicise the issue via the media. Next year we will have to start raising the matter in a far more vigorous manner.”
Newport Museum and Library has collections of national importance. It houses the finest Chartist Exhibition in the UK, opened 2010 by Michael Sheen, Hollywood star born in Newport. It possesses important Chartist collections of art, books, documents including original publications produced by Samuel Etheridge and John Partridge, local Newport printers in partnership with their close friend, John Frost.
To support this campaign, you can take out or renew FONMAG membership on line:
The annual subscription is £10 single, £15 two members at the same address or £5 students.
Email: membership@fonmag.org.uk if you require any further information.
