00:00Expressandstar.com, we're here at Canock Chase Council House ahead of the
00:05crucial budget meeting this evening. We're here with Andrea Muckley, Spencer
00:11Houghton and Peter Ross. Now Andrea, if I can speak to you first of all, you've got a
00:17big interest in the Museum of Canock Chase and also the Prince of Wales
00:21Theatre, just explain a little. I do, so I'm a local councillor for Wandsley and
00:25Hemsford Hills, so this is right on my doorstep. My family go regularly to the
00:32Museum of Canock Chase and it's actually my favourite, my favourite museum and my
00:36daughter's favourite museum, so she made this beautiful placard when we came to
00:40protest before Christmas. How old's your daughter? She's nine years old and she
00:45absolutely adores the Museum of Canock Chase. We go quite often to events during
00:50half-term but even just on a weekend we'll go along and she loves going
00:53through the mine and playing in the children's room, so it's a wonderful
00:57place for whole families to go. The theatre, she is in a dance and
01:03acrobatics troupe and they do a show every two years and they perform on the
01:09stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Unfortunately this year that won't
01:13happen, so we've had to move venue which has brought extra cost, extra heartache
01:18and extra stress for the people in charge and for the children, so
01:23we're looking forward to the show but it's a real shame that it won't be at
01:27the Prince of Wales. And Peter, you are part of Canock Chase Shed which you've
01:33got two workshops at the Museum of Canock Chase, just tell us a little bit
01:37about what you do there. Yes, I'm a trustee and treasurer of Canock Chase
01:42Shed. We've got two workshops, only one of them is at the museum though, we have
01:46another workshop somewhere else. Canock Chase Shed is a registered charity, we
01:51make, mend and upcycle things for local community groups, any community group
01:56that wants something, that they want mending, fixing, producing, we'll have a
02:00go at doing it for them. Our workshop at the Museum of Canock Chase is where we
02:06tend to do our larger items. If the museum is to close and we are kicked out
02:11of our workshop that will seriously reduce the ability to do larger projects,
02:18it'll have a big impact on membership, we won't be able to have as many
02:22members as we've got. Membership has gone up from five, six years ago, to 40
02:28people now. We would have to lose members, restrict severely the amount of
02:32projects that we can do. It'll have a big impact. Our workshop group is primarily
02:37there to improve the mental health, the well-being of people, generally of an
02:44older age group who are looking for something to do in their retirement
02:48years, helping each other and helping the local community.
02:52And Spencer, you're a volunteer at the Museum of Canock Chase, we've heard there about
02:57Peaks' group, they're probably the ones you don't always hear about in the
03:02headlines when it's under threat and you've got an idea, a good idea you're
03:07talking about with the council, to save it if it does come under the budget cuts.
03:13Yes, what we're doing, if everything goes as we anticipate tonight, then we're
03:20going to be setting up a community interest company and we will be looking
03:26to redevelop and build on what the museum has now and actually to reopen it
03:33in this quicker time as we possibly can. Yeah, would that be part of a consortium,
03:39a community interest group? Yes, it's a community interest company, so we are looking for
03:44volunteers to come and help out because there's a lot of work to do between now
03:49and when we close officially, if it goes as we think it is at the end of April, so
03:55we've got a lot of work to do, so if there are volunteers who want to come
03:58and help, please get in contact. If you've got business experience, please get in
04:03contact, we need as many people with lots of skills to get in contact with the CIC
04:08to make it work. We really need this wonderful gem to reopen if it closes,
04:13which we hope it won't, but that's what it looks like tonight.
04:17Okay, thanks for talking to me.
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