After 100 year wait, will Oswestry soon get a museum?
Tuesday 14th June 2011, 4:00PM BST.
Oswestry could finally get a town museum more than 100 years after the idea was first suggested, after the unveiling of fresh plans.
The town council is backing a volunteer heritage group which says it is close to setting up the museum.
Last night councillors off- ered, in principle, the top fl- oor of the Guildhall for its base.
They have urged the Oswestry Heritage Forum Steering Group to come back with a business plan to show the museum can be sustained and will have enough volunteers to keep it open.
Mark Hignett, of the heritage group, said he was delighted the council was in favour of a town museum.
“We have looked at several possible venues but the Guildhall is the most favoured,” he said.
“Although the town has specialist museums, such as the Cambrian Railways Museum and the King’s Own Regiment Museum, it has never had a general town museum.”
Town councillors heard last night the group hoped to win charitable status within the next fortnight.
Museum staff would be volunteers and fundraising would cover running costs. It is hoped the museum would be free admission, but there would be a number of donation boxes throughout the building.
He said the museum would concentrate on the general history of Oswestry but would also have rotating “themed” displays.
Oswestry town mayor Councillor Cynthia Hawksley said: “It is a very exciting project. The town of Oswestry needs a museum and if it were in the Guildhall it would be at the heart of the town.
“We would have the museum, the market, the town archives and the civic headquarters together and next to excellent parking.”
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