The Heritage Centre - Trust Annual Report 1986
The most important event of the year was the opening of the permanent exhibition "Discover the City" on 3rd May by Lord Briggs of Lewes. This was the culmination of three years' hard work by the Commitee and by a number of members and helpers. The Exhibition, which was designed by Michael Quinion Associates and largely financed by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, does great credit to all concerned. Until recently, attendances were somewhat disappointing, but they are increasing steadily now that the Exhibition is becoming better known.
It was necessary to close the Centre whilst "Discover the City" was being assembled, but prior to this two highly successful exhibitions were held, the "Railway Exhibition" and and exhibition of "Victorian Costume and Items of Working Life", both of which attracted considerable numbers of visitors.
Additionally, several successful book-sales have been held at the Centre, which also provides the venue for meetings of the Council of the Preservation Trust and its various Committees and for some of the talks of the Urban Studies Committee.
Looking to the future, the immediate concern of the Committee will be to increase the utilisation and income of the Heritage Centre. Costs of getting the building into a state good enough to house the exhibition and loss of income during the period when it was closed have eroded our resources and we need to provide for inevitable repair bills in the future. The Committee, therefore, will be concentrating on developing new ideas to generate funds and to increase awareness of the Centre generally. The year has been one of considerable achievement and it is now necessary to keep up the momentum.
At the end of July Dr. George Swift was succeeded as Hon. Manager by Alan Cooke. George Swift has been a tower of strength and our grateful thanks are due to him, as they are to all our helpers and in particular our Voluntary Duty Officers without whom the Heritage Centre could not operate at all. We always need more, and help in this direction would be especially welcome.