Report from the Heritage Centre - TrustNews Summer 1996
Once again we have remained open every Saturday during the Winter and Spring months as a point of contact for the Trust members and visitors. Nick McPherson kindly loaned us his degree work on the Hyde area which we hope to see in print one day. This was followed by an exhibition of postcards kindly loaned by John Brimfield to complement the lectures given by Nick on Winchester. Alan Cooke, despite being 'down under', provided us with a splendid set of Winchester mystery pictures which the `Hampshire Chronicle' editor Steve Robinson published to test his readers knowledge. This is proving to be very successful. One man even came to the Centre trying to find out the location of a green door with No '30'; our manager George Burnett asked him to shut the door when he left! Our thanks to Alan and to his UK link team of George Burnett and Tony Hunter, and also to the `Chronicle' and Mike Cornter of Wilds Sports for donating the prizes.
Much to our and the City's embarrassment the new Tourist leaflet omitted the Heritage Centre so do tell your friends to come and see us. Obviously we have been going through a difficult time with bad spring weather and Upper Brook Street being closed (again) for cable TV in addition to the uncertainty of our future. Robin Baumber of Angerton Video has kindly 'welded on' to the back of our 'Winchester Heritage' video the Centre Appeal video. Robin also produced a copy on the American format for the Mayor (Cllr Pat Norris) to take to Winchester in Virginia, USA. John Brimfield presented her with his compilation of the Rob Sollars' collection to take to America.
Our good friend Pam Gillard who manages the Brooks Centre has not only included a reference to the Heritage Centre in the `Brook Experience' reconstruction of Roman & Mediaeval life in the Brooks, but has also persuaded the new BHS store that they should offer us a bay window facing onto St George's Street to promote the Trust and the Heritage Centre - so watch this space!
Finally, our book sale raised just over £200 and we are repeating the sale again on Saturday 26 October. Please let us have any spare books you may have.
Heritage Centre Enlargement and Improvement Project
Ever mindful that our current lease on the building expires on 30 September 1996, the project teams have been extremely busy during the past months preparing the planning application for submission to the City Council, and completing the complex application form, together with copious supporting documents, for the National Heritage Lottery Fund. It is to everyone's credit that the planning application went in at the end of April, and the lottery application at the end of May.
Now to the crunch - what will it all cost? The total cost, including the 99-year lease on the existing building and the land at the back, the new building and the refurbishment of the existing building, the installation of Roger Brown's model together with the sound-and-light presentation equipment, a new room for the Trust archives and a lecture room will cost in the region of £680,000 (of which £67,000 will be VAT).
We are hoping that the Lottery Fund will grant us 75% of this sum, and thanks to Roger Brown most generously donating his model to us, to which we must add the professional work freely given to us at little or no cost, and a major contribution from the Preservation Trust, we estimate that we shall have to raise about £70,000 ourselves.
We have been fortunate in the moral support that has been given to us by the City and County Councils and also the extensive information given to us by the Town Clerk of Rye, Mrs Leslie Scammell, whose experience with designing and operating their own model has been of inestimable value to us. What else has to be done? At the moment we are drawing up the terms of reference for the Exhibition Co-ordinator, who will mastermind the means of presenting the model to the public, together with the interior arrangements for the whole complex. We are hoping to be able to select one from about four firms who might be interested in actually obtaining the equipment, and then installing it.
This brings us to the crucial matter of raising the funds. If there are any members who would be prepared to advise us on this major task, we would be very pleased to hear from them.