New appeal aims to save Shrewsbury museum
An appeal is being launched to help secure the future of Shropshire Regimental Museum which is facing closure due to a funding axe.
Members of the Keep Our Shropshire History Alive group say they are determined to save the attraction for future generations to enjoy.
The museum in Shrewsbury Castle tells the story of the Shropshire regiments through a huge collection of memorabilia, artefacts, medals, paintings, photographs and documents.
The museum has lost £30,000 of Ministry of Defence funding, plunging its future into doubt.
Maurice Halliday, a former company sergeant major, is heading up the newly-formed group.
"The closure of the museum would be terrible for Shropshire and damaging for Shrewsbury," he said.
"Over the years, the museum has accumulated the whole history of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the Shropshire Yeomanry. I doubt that there is an indigenous family in the whole of Shropshire who doesn't have some link to the museum."
The crisis has arisen because the MoD is withdrawing financial support for all regimental museums from next April.
"The staff that run the museum are paid by the Ministry of Defence. Without that money, we lose the staff. Without the staff, we lose the museum," said Mr Halliday, who is also chairman of the Telford branch of the Light Infantry Association.
Keep Our Shropshire History Alive, or Kosha, has been formed to find ways to plug the funding gap.
"We have begun the campaign by contacting every former veteran of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the Shropshire Yeomanry, which are the two Shropshire regiments, asking for donations. So far we have received about £2,000," said Mr Halliday.
"We've contacted Shrewsbury Town Council and all the parish councils around the county.
"This museum is really unique. The IRA tried to blow it up in 1992. The reason they chose the museum in Shrewsbury is that they decided it was a prestigious target. A lot of the stuff was saved and eventually it reopened."
Mr Halliday says the museum attracts 20,000 visitors a year, paying £4 a head.
He has written to all Shropshire's MPs asking them to lobby the MoD to withdraw the funding in two stages – with £15,000 in April and £15,000 in April 2018 – rather than in one £30,000 go.
"We don't want special treatment. It would give us the chance to raise the money for the first year of £15,000," he said.
As to what would happen to the museum's artefacts and treasures should it close, he said: "Once the museum is closed, heaven knows. We have two options. One short term, and one longer term. We have asked all our veterans to pay £10 this year to Kosha. That money will be used for the year starting April 2017.
"We have also asked every single one of them to fill out a form which they will receive in the post very soon for a standing order to pay £10 per year direct to the Shropshire Regimental Museum. If we do that, that will raise a fair amount of money per year.
"What we would hope to do is then go to the whole of the county and say to everybody in Shropshire, this is your museum. For 19p a week, which is £10 a year, we keep our museum."
Mr Halliday, who is 71 and lives in Telford, served in the KSLI and then its successor, the 3rd Battalion Light Infantry, in a 22-year career in which he was ultimately company sergeant major at Copthorne Barracks, Shrewsbury.
He says donations to help save the museum can be made to Keep Our Shropshire History Alive, The Rifles Office, Copthorne Barracks, Shrewsbury, SY3 8LZ.
