Museum dream is a step closer to reality

Published 5 Sep 2010 15:30

PLANS for a long-awaited museum in Windsor’s Guildhall have taken a step forward.

Work to transform the Maidenhead Room at the historic Grade I listed building into a home for the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum Collection is due to begin next month.

Lead member for adult and community services, Cllr Simon Dudley said: “It is ridiculous that our museum collection spends much of its time in storage with limited public access. We have an amazing resource that cries out for its own home and I am delighted that we have a solution in the Guildhall - itself the most important and historic building in the council’s care.”

The council is also looking at developing the Guildhall as an exhibit in the next two years and has submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If successful a second bid will be submitted by the end of the year and work on the project including a virtual tour of the first floor, which holds a display of royal paintings, will start in summer 2011.

Cllr Dudley said the museum reflects the ideals of the Prime Minister’s Big Society vision by bringing in volunteers of all ages to run the museum and encouraging a sense of local ownership.

He said: “The Friends of the Museum already embody the ideals of the Big Society, volunteering their time and considerable expertise to maintain and expand the collection.

“The new museum will give us greater opportunities to bring in even more volunteers of all ages - many of them not necessarily used to going to museums. In this way we can develop the worth and spirit of volunteering, increase understanding of local heritage and culture and engender a sense of local ownership of this fantastic new resource.”

The Guildhall will close for three months from Monday, October 4, as four specialist contractors start refurbishment works, installation of the museum display and audio visual software to help bring the exhibits to life.

The museum will include five themed areas - the Royal Borough and its settlement, military associations, aeronautical Windsor, working Windsor and life and childhood in Windsor.

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This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 03 Sep 10

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