Here is my acknowledgement from Barbara Follet MP Minister of Culture for reference.
Dear Stephen Pollock-Hill,
Thank you for writing to me to say:
Subject: Seeking my assistance
Dear Barbara,
I wish to express my concern about the pending closure in April 2010 of the Broadfield House Glass Museum in Kingswinford, in my capacity both as a glass maker who has left some of my archives to the Museum, and as Chairman of The British Glass Education Trust, and curator and owner of The British Domestic Glass Museum 1900 -2000.
Dudley Borough Council has decided, without any consultation or definite plan of replacement, to close the Museum in 2010, putting the staffon notice.
This is the leading glass museum in the country, of its kind dedicated soley to glass, and one of the most important in the world, containing archives of over 200 years of the Crystal Industry which was based in the Dudley area,covering famous names like Stuart Crystal, Royal Brierly, Thomas Webb & Sons, Webb Corbett, Richardsons,Walsh Walsh, to name a few that have all now closed down or the trade names sold off.Only a couple like Tudor Crystal and Plowden & Thompson remain.
It is a major part of the cultural heritage of the area, and several thousand people have signed a petition against its closure and there are over 72,000 article on the internet about this!
Dudley Borough Council( and its predecessors) have benefitted by many millions of pounds in rates from employers and employees over the years, so this seems a very shoddy, unprofessional and undemocratic way to behave!
I would appreciate your views and bearing in mind national culture and heritage is at stake, (this is not just a local affair!) your favourable judgement , that the closure be postponed, at the very least until all alternatives have been fully discussed of the requirement to best house, preserve and improve the history of glassmaking in the West Midlands.
Kind regards,
Stephen Pollock-Hill.