Lottery windfall takes museum into the future

Reporter: Ken Bennett
Date published: 13 October 2014


SADDLEWORTH Museum has received £1 million for a major refurbishment that aims to secure its future.

The Heritage Lottery Fund grant is for the museum’s “Into the Future” project, which will see the building extended and conservation work. The registered charity celebrated its 50th year as an independent museum in 2012.

Planning is already in hand, with proposals to close the museum, on Uppermill High Street, at the end of June 2015 for a formal reopening in May 2016.

The project, the result of seven years’ work, will see the refurbishment of the 1862 mill building, extensions to the front and an extension to the side to include new reception and retail areas.

A lift will give full disabled access.

The work will also involve conservation work on collections, improvements to existing stores, continued digitisation and making the museum collections more accessible. The project includes a major revamp of the exhibition galleries, to show more of Saddleworth’s history and the museum’s varied collections.

Museum curator Peter Fox said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for a little museum to tell our history. We will never be able to show the definitive story of Saddleworth but will certainly be able to show more of Saddleworth’s rich history.

“If local people are inspired through their visit to look at their surroundings from a fresh viewpoint we will have achieved something.

“An important part of the project is that for three years we will have a full-time education service funded by the Heritage Lottery. This is to encourage people of all ages to look again at their local surroundings.”

The building, which sits alongside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, is a focal point for the community and is currently used by local groups for events. The old mill section is all that remains of Victoria Mill, which once occupied the site of the museum car park.

Roger Tanner MBE, president and founder of the museum, said: “We have been working towards this project for a long time. We would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting the scheme.

“It will mark the start of another chapter in the history of the museum which has already served the local community for over 50 years.”