Q&A with Jimmy McDonell
The chairman of Dundee Museum of Transport talks about the challenges ahead
An £80,000 grant to fund director and consultant roles for two years at the Dundee Museum of Transport was awarded by the Mathew Trust last month.
The museum's chairman, Jimmy McDonell discusses the challenges facing the museum in its bid to raise £5m to redevelop Dundee's Maryfield Tram Depot into a national visitor attraction.
What will be the key challenges facing the new director and consultant?
The director and consultant will be key in driving the project forward with a key focus on accreditation with Museums Galleries Scotland.
Furthermore, it is imperative that they both work hand-in-hand with volunteers as a joint-exercise as the Dundee Museum of Transport Trust is in the unique position of our entire human resource pool being made up solely of volunteers.
Why does Dundee need a museum of transport?
We started the project because we felt that there was a lack of attention in Dundee and the surrounding area in preserving our transport heritage, in comparison with the likes of Glasgow and other key places in England.
There is a wealth of individual and private collections in the Dundee environs and we have already worked with a number of these collectors to bring items of memorabilia and vehicles into the public domain.
How will the museum’s planned permanent home at the Maryfield Tram Depot help to tell the story of transport in Tayside?
The Maryfield Tram Depot is the spiritual home for our transport museum and has been in our vision since we commenced the project. The building is a large space in a prime location, and we felt as a trust and organisation that this building must be saved from an architectural point of view as a poetical asset of the city.
Developing the tram depot into a prime tourist attraction will complement the existing and upcoming attractions to the city, the new V&A Dundee being one of them, so much so that we refer to it as a no-brainer within the organisation.
How is the museum planning to spread the word about its fundraising campaign and enlist support?
We have a superb in-house team and we always aim to get the absolute best publicity from all of the success stories through our project.
At the moment, there is a need to keep up the momentum with our current supporters as we also rely on excellent references and contacts in order to achieve the results that we are looking for.
Through any press releases that we produce, we also always try our best to keep our prospective funders and supporters up-to-date with goings on.
We have had amazing support from the local authority and their Leisure and Culture division as well as other key supporters, so we certainly understand the need to keep them in the loop because in some cases they can provide the publicity for us.
Since 2014 when the museum opened, what has the response from the local community been like?
Even prior to the opening of the museum, we have had a brilliant response from the local area and the city. Our volunteers find it extremely heart-warming when families and tourists come to visit the museum and the smiles that are on their faces when they take a trip down memory lane seeing all the vehicles we house.
We have adapted our displays to accommodate children too, because we found out early on that the museum was a hit with the young ones.
In our first year, we achieved a three-star VisitScotland rating and a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor. We also have consistent four- and five-star ratings across all review websites, which we find to be very satisfying and is a huge boost to morale and provides us with the drive to better our offerings. We absolutely refuse to stand still with what we offer.
The museum's chairman, Jimmy McDonell discusses the challenges facing the museum in its bid to raise £5m to redevelop Dundee's Maryfield Tram Depot into a national visitor attraction.
What will be the key challenges facing the new director and consultant?
The director and consultant will be key in driving the project forward with a key focus on accreditation with Museums Galleries Scotland.
Furthermore, it is imperative that they both work hand-in-hand with volunteers as a joint-exercise as the Dundee Museum of Transport Trust is in the unique position of our entire human resource pool being made up solely of volunteers.
Why does Dundee need a museum of transport?
We started the project because we felt that there was a lack of attention in Dundee and the surrounding area in preserving our transport heritage, in comparison with the likes of Glasgow and other key places in England.
There is a wealth of individual and private collections in the Dundee environs and we have already worked with a number of these collectors to bring items of memorabilia and vehicles into the public domain.
How will the museum’s planned permanent home at the Maryfield Tram Depot help to tell the story of transport in Tayside?
The Maryfield Tram Depot is the spiritual home for our transport museum and has been in our vision since we commenced the project. The building is a large space in a prime location, and we felt as a trust and organisation that this building must be saved from an architectural point of view as a poetical asset of the city.
Developing the tram depot into a prime tourist attraction will complement the existing and upcoming attractions to the city, the new V&A Dundee being one of them, so much so that we refer to it as a no-brainer within the organisation.
How is the museum planning to spread the word about its fundraising campaign and enlist support?
We have a superb in-house team and we always aim to get the absolute best publicity from all of the success stories through our project.
At the moment, there is a need to keep up the momentum with our current supporters as we also rely on excellent references and contacts in order to achieve the results that we are looking for.
Through any press releases that we produce, we also always try our best to keep our prospective funders and supporters up-to-date with goings on.
We have had amazing support from the local authority and their Leisure and Culture division as well as other key supporters, so we certainly understand the need to keep them in the loop because in some cases they can provide the publicity for us.
Since 2014 when the museum opened, what has the response from the local community been like?
Even prior to the opening of the museum, we have had a brilliant response from the local area and the city. Our volunteers find it extremely heart-warming when families and tourists come to visit the museum and the smiles that are on their faces when they take a trip down memory lane seeing all the vehicles we house.
We have adapted our displays to accommodate children too, because we found out early on that the museum was a hit with the young ones.
In our first year, we achieved a three-star VisitScotland rating and a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor. We also have consistent four- and five-star ratings across all review websites, which we find to be very satisfying and is a huge boost to morale and provides us with the drive to better our offerings. We absolutely refuse to stand still with what we offer.