'We have bled out' - Public meeting held to update residents on future of Cannock theatre and museum

The public raised a number of questions at the meeting on Friday evening, which was held at The Aquarius Ballroom in Hednesford, and got answers from Councillor Newbury, Sheila Brown, New Life founder and museum committee member, Andrew Moseley and Peter Sidgwick from the Cannock Chase Theatre Trust (CCTT). 

The main grievances were the lack of funding and the 'slow action' of the council, especially in light of digitalising the museums 36,000-strong artefact collection.

MP Josh Newbury opened the meeting and addressed the fifty members of the public that turned out, saying that things had 'moved forwards' and it was now a good opportunity to give the public an update on the situation.

He said he is continuing to raise his constituency's concerns about the future of the museum and the Prince of Wales theatre, and that he has asked the government how they will support smaller venues.

A member of the public raised The Jennie Lee Fund, asking if it has 'any bearing on Cannock' as the former MP and Minister for the Arts was from the area.

Councillor Newbury replied: "I am plugging away on those local connections as much as I can and will continue to. We should be shouting about the fact that we have just as much to offer as any city does, our venues are just underappreciated.

"The short answer is yes."

He mentioned the £20m Levelling Up fund that was awarded to Cannock town centre last year and that discussions are ongoing about the money helping the theatre. 

Mr Moseley, for the CCTT, spoke more on the plans for the theatre.

"Following last meeting that Josh held in January," he said, "a lot of the activity we have been involved in has been getting the trust set up. We can hopefully soon become a registered charity which will unlock a lot of things for us to do.

"We are certainly hoping to take on the theatre, but are currently in a holding space which will likely last another four to six weeks and then we can get things going."

Mr Sidgwick, chairman of the CCTT, said to keep the theatre running will take 'huge amounts' of money.

"We are meeting with some key stakeholders, but one thing that's plain is that there will be an increase in ticket prices. We are really just waiting for the council to give us the word but we are pretty confident that they will want us to go ahead.

"We need to generate huge, huge, huge, amounts of money."

Over at the museum, other meeting members raised serious concerns about the digitisation of their artefacts, and that they are under 'serious threat'.

Spencer Houghton, volunteer researcher at the Museum of Cannock Chase, said they have 'bled out' and he blames the council.

He said: "We have spoken about the review and the decommissioning of the collection with the council numerous times. The person who can do this review is leaving next Friday. So they are going to recruit someone else to do the work, who doesn't know enough about the collection and will require at least two weeks of training.

"That collection is now under serious threat. Regardless of what we do, there is no one there to do the review of the donations, check the conditions of the collections, wrap them up, register where they go.

"We are bleeding out because the council has not reacted quickly enough, and I've got my hand on it."

The museum is due to close at the end of April, though volunteers and members of the public are 'passionate' that they can save it one way or another.

Sheila Brown urged people 'with skills' that might help retain the historic buildings to throw their hat in the ring - those with business skills, management, planning, and anything else.

She said: "Come along, take the info we've got, assess it and put it into a business plan so the council can consider it and make sure its a sound way to go forward. They have to know they're passing it over to a group of people who are capable of holding onto this authentic treasure that we have in our midst."

Catching up with Councillor Josh Newbury after the meeting, he said he feels 'encouraged'.

"I think the meeting went really well, the momentum is still going. Like with the past few meetings, we have had over fifty people come which shows how strongly they're feeling. What is really encouraging is loads of questions coming in. People are really engaged, they want to know how they can be involved.

"There are still a lot of questions around funding. We have got to be able to run these venues without council subsidy now, that's the unfortunate reality that we are facing. A lot of people also still have questions for the council, such as what's going to happen with the museum collection, how much funding will be left over for the theatre, so there is certainly a lot for me to take away and put to the council too.

"For a lot of people it's understanding how they can be involved, and how they can direct their efforts. Some of the updates we had tonight were really useful in that respect."