Member Article

Cheshire East Council gives £31k boost to town museum

Cheshire East Council has given a £31k grant to Congleton Museum, which will be used to help relocate to a better premises in the town.

The money will part fund the redevelopment of Bradshaw House into a new museum for Congleton.

With its ever expanding collection, the move will provide more space for the collection’s displays, improved facilities for activities and give the museum greater prominence.

Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council, said “It was a pleasure to be in my home town, presenting a cheque on behalf of Cheshire East Council to support the museum.

“This is a very exciting time for Congleton Museum – applying for a range of grants and funding to enable the move to Bradshaw House, with its own rich history.

“This museum is a tremendous community asset, attracting people from all over the Borough and beyond.

“In my eyes, one of the most important things that the museum does is in its work with schoolchildren. I understand that typically about 2,000 children, mainly from East Cheshire, West Cheshire, Staffordshire and Trafford, come to the museum each year on organised visits.

“I know that their World War II and ‘evacuee experiences’ have been particularly successful and one of the strengths of the organisation here is that they are constantly evolving and developing – so we’ll look forward to what comes next.

The museum is managed by Congleton Museum Trust, a registered charity which was formed in 1985 by a group of local history enthusiasts to pull together as much as possible of the history of Congleton and to explore ways of exhibiting it to the community.

The museum opened in 2002, following the redevelopment of Congleton Town hall, and has gone from strength to strength.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .