An 18-month project to support and mentor several community groups in their bids to take over three Lancashire museums has been described as a success, according to an evaluation of the initiative published in December 2018.
The Waving Not Drowning programme, commissioned by Lancashire Museum Service after it closed five museums due to budget cuts, has helped to secure positive outcomes for two of the three museums it was funded to support. Arts Council England (ACE) provided the funding. The resilience project followed a call by Lancashire County Council (LCC) for groups interested in taking over the sites.
Waving Not Drowning aimed to support those groups with whatever they needed to make them sustainable.
At the time, Fleetwood Maritime Museum was the only site to have a community group in place. A group was formed for Judges’ Lodgings Museum in Lancaster, while talks began with English Heritage about Helmshore Mill Textile Museum and Queen Street Mill. A consortium was formed in a bid to secure the future of the Museum of Lancashire, in Preston.
Sue Ashworth, the senior museum manager at Lancashire Museum Service, who was the project manager, says Waving Not Drowning highlights the importance of bespoke and tailored work, and the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
She says it was vital to be flexible enough to respond to the evolving situation facing each group. Ashworth adds that the work of the project coordinator, Sara Hilton, was pivotal, as was the excellent support received from its ACE relationship manager.
"They were always aware of issues, and supporting us to respond by realigning our resources and scope,” she adds. “Sara was able to stand as an independent voice for both LCC and for the groups. She also brought experience, expertise and diplomacy.”
Fleetwood Museum, at which the management group was more advanced than at the other institutions, found the bespoke support more beneficial than the group sessions. It received strategic and operational support to underpin its Accreditation process, and to recruit a paid museum manager.
The Judges’ Lodgings group, which has not taken over the running of the museum but is working with the council in a joint planning group, found the group sessions particularly useful. It was also supported to help develop a joint business plan, and a joint strategy plan.
After talks with English Heritage failed to provide a solution for the mills, LCC is exploring options with ACE, the National Trust, Historic England and Heritage Lottery Fund. The council approved funding for Queen Street and Helmshore after an options appraisal in 2017, which runs until October this year. 
Having time to reflect on the process to ensure good decisions were being made was also crucial, says Ashworth. “Things can’t happen swiftly, especially when working with community groups.”
The Waving Not Drowning evaluation report, written by Ashworth and external evaluator Rosie Crook, suggests that local authorities should actively engage with communities about 24-30 months in advance of transferring facilities.
By the time the project drew to a close, all of the museums, except the Museum of Lancashire, had reopened to the public on a seasonal basis. Work on a long-term solution for the Museum of Lancashire is ongoing. Despite remaining closed, the report concludes that the museum is more resilient as a result of the project.
Ashworth says: “It allowed the consortium to understand the external challenges involved with running the museum, and to think hard about what it meant for them. It put them in the best place to make a decision.”
The report raises many issues, such as the need for local authorities to be transparent and clear, as well as willing to work in partnership when seeking to transfer museums to local ownership.
One of the groups told the evaluator: “We have trust and transparency with county staff. We feel the process has also shown LCC some different ways of doing museums.”