Ludlow Museum job cuts petition nears 1,000
A petition against museum job cuts is less than 100 signatures away from the 1,000 needed to force a full council debate, it has been revealed.
Campaigners against plans to axe three expert staff, who look after world-renowned collections at Ludlow Museum Resource Centre, are now nearing the critical figure needed to have the issue looked at again at a full meeting of Shropshire Council.
More than 900 people have signed the petition in less than three weeks.
It was raised at a public meeting at the end of last month during which experts said the cuts would threaten Ludlow's "world famous" reputation for geology.
A part-time curator post, based in Shrewsbury, is expected to replace the current three staff. Protesters fear one person could not possibly cover the full range of activities at the centre.
But Shropshire Council says the centre itself is not under threat, and access to and care for the collections will continue, as well as educational programmes run at the centre with the help of volunteers.
Lottie James, chairwoman of the Friends of Ludlow Museum, said: "We're delighted at the support we've been getting.
"If we get 1,000 signatures, the cutbacks must be discussed at a full Shropshire Council meeting."
An electronic version of the petition, available on Shropshire Council's own website under "epetitions", has attracted 389 signatures so far.
Council bosses have announced that plans to cut one of the three full-time posts will be delayed for six months to help assist Ludlow Town Council transfer the town's separate museum from its current home in Castle Square to the refurbished Buttercross at the top of Broad Street.
But campaigners, while welcoming the decision, have said it will do little to ease the uncertainty of the future of the museum resource centre.
John Fuller, a volunteer researcher and archivist at the centre, said: "It needs to be made clear to everybody that funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured to finance the researching and archiving of the thousands of items around Shropshire.
"As far as the museum resource centre in Ludlow goes this funding will have been wasted as the Shropshire community and beyond will lose all of the benefits that the centre provides which have been well documented.
"Furthermore a number of items and collections at the resource centre are the property, and remain so, of donors who have loaned the items to the centre. They will have no confidence that their items will be carefully preserved without full time staff to care for them."
