Lottery chiefs probe plans for winter closure of Captain Cook Birthplace Museum
LOTTERY chiefs are probing the winter closure of a leading North museum celebrating the famous explorer Captain Cook.
It comes after the Heritage Lottery Fund threw more than £800,000 at Middlesbrough’s Captain Cook Birthplace Museum,
and a further £4.5m on renovating the surrounding Stewart Park.
Due to the cash crisis engulfing North authorities, Middlesbrough Council voted to close the museum this winter,
and fears are spreading the doors will not reopen in the spring as promised.
Hundreds have put their name to petitions to save the museum devoted to the Teesside-born navigator
and push council bosses to guarantee the building will reopen after six months.
No date has yet been set for the museum to reopen. It will shut to the public on November 1.
The legendary sailor and navigator Captain James Cook is one of Teesside’s most important historical figures,
fearlessly setting sail to discover distant lands.
Baptised in the small village of Mawston, the sailor rose to the rank of captain of the Royal Navy,
making some of the first journeys into the Pacific Ocean and mapping lands from Australia to Newfoundland
before meeting his death at the hands of savages in Hawaii.
Lottery chiefs handed the museum, which marks Captain Cook’s birthplace, £815,500 to ensure visitor numbers were sustained,
while the park underwent a major multi-million pound revamp, set to be completed in the coming months.
Ivor Crowther, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the North East, has been holding crisis talks
with council chiefs this week amid widespread concern over the museum’s future. He said:
“We understand that Middlesbrough Council, along with many local authorities across the country, is under significant financial pressure
and tough decisions are being made. Despite this, we are keen to ensure that Heritage Lottery Fund’s investment in The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum is protected for public benefit.
“We will continue working closely with the council over the coming months to discuss ways forward.”
Independent councillor Tom Mawston, also a trustee of the museum, has branded the winter closure a travesty
and said Lottery leaders raising concerns was a glimmer of hope.
“If there is a chance of the museum to stay open it will be welcomed by lots of people,”
he said. “It has roused quite a storm. This is a museum which is popular with a lot of people and many have fond memories of it.
“It is also one of the few museums named after a person on the site of their place of birth.”
Meanwhile Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop has set up an online campaign to save the museum
and is writing to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Charlie Rooney, the council’s executive member for regeneration and economic development,
has said the plan is to reopen the museum in spring, adding: “We are looking at creative ways of cutting future costs.”
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