John Lippiett, the chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust, said he was 'disappointed' after the trust lost its bid for £13.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The money was earmarked to go towards a new £23m museum to house the warship and the trust's collections.
Lippiett said: 'We wanted a world-class museum, and we need more expertise to help with that. We need to strengthen the team.'
While paying service to his 'magnificent' staff, Lippiett said that he was looking to employ a museologist with 'national museum experience'. The trust has been in talks with the National Maritime Museum to discuss the possibility of a part-time secondment position. Lippiett is hoping to reapply to the HLF for funds next summer.
A spokeswoman for the HLF said that it was in 'ongoing discussions' with the Mary Rose Trust. She added: 'We do hope to continue working with the trust to help realise its ambitions in the future.'
In the same funding round, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, which is in the Renaissance in the Regions West Midlands phase one hub, won £2.8m towards new exhibitions and educational facilities, despite Coventry City Council announcing last year that it would not provide the match-funding required to meet the application. The HLF application went ahead after the Coventry-based Alan Edward Higgs Charity stepped in with a £3m loan.
Stuart Linnell, the chairman of the Coventry Chamber of Commerce, said: 'We are disappointed that the council didn't support the museum in the way it should have.'
Tyntesfield, a Victorian gothic mansion located near Bristol, also had a successful application, winning £20m. This has come four years after the property was acquired by the National Trust with a grant of nearly £17.5m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the single largest donation the fund had ever given.
Ruth Gofton, the property manager at Tyntesfield, said: 'We are hugely relieved. This means that Tyntesfield is secure and we can now plan for the long term.'
Other awards in the latest round of HLF funding included £12.5m to Buxton Crescent and Spa in Derbyshire, £9.7m to the Victoria and Albert Museum's medieval and renaissance galleries in London, £10.3m to the Museum of Bristol, £4.8m to the Summerlea Heritage Park in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and £9.6m to the Tank Museum in Dorset. Hull History Centre received a stage one pass, with £7.7m earmarked for the project, dependent on a successful stage two application.
The HLF also set aside £1.9m for the BBC Two series Restoration Village, in which 21 buildings around the UK compete to win a public vote, with eight finalists eligible for planning grants of up to £50,000 and a winner taking the rest of the prize fund, which will include a projected £3m from telephone votes. The series, produced by Endemol, the company responsible for Big Brother, began at the end of July, and the final will be broadcast on 17 September.
One of the finalists is the Watts Gallery in Surrey, which controversially proposed to sell two paintings from its collection earlier this year (Museums Journal July 2006, p5).
Meanwhile, the Big Lottery Fund has awarded a £500,000 development grant to the National Museum of Science and Industry at Wroughton, near Swindon, for its National Collections Centre. The funding will go towards the cost of developing the project for the stage two application in May 2007. The museum will be applying for a further £48m.
The plan to revamp Exhibition Road in South Kensington got the knock-back from the Big Lottery. The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea had asked for £25m towards its plan to develop the area between the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the V&A. The council will now be seeking alternative funding.
Patrick Steel
Lippiett said: 'We wanted a world-class museum, and we need more expertise to help with that. We need to strengthen the team.'
While paying service to his 'magnificent' staff, Lippiett said that he was looking to employ a museologist with 'national museum experience'. The trust has been in talks with the National Maritime Museum to discuss the possibility of a part-time secondment position. Lippiett is hoping to reapply to the HLF for funds next summer.
A spokeswoman for the HLF said that it was in 'ongoing discussions' with the Mary Rose Trust. She added: 'We do hope to continue working with the trust to help realise its ambitions in the future.'
In the same funding round, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, which is in the Renaissance in the Regions West Midlands phase one hub, won £2.8m towards new exhibitions and educational facilities, despite Coventry City Council announcing last year that it would not provide the match-funding required to meet the application. The HLF application went ahead after the Coventry-based Alan Edward Higgs Charity stepped in with a £3m loan.
Stuart Linnell, the chairman of the Coventry Chamber of Commerce, said: 'We are disappointed that the council didn't support the museum in the way it should have.'
Tyntesfield, a Victorian gothic mansion located near Bristol, also had a successful application, winning £20m. This has come four years after the property was acquired by the National Trust with a grant of nearly £17.5m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the single largest donation the fund had ever given.
Ruth Gofton, the property manager at Tyntesfield, said: 'We are hugely relieved. This means that Tyntesfield is secure and we can now plan for the long term.'
Other awards in the latest round of HLF funding included £12.5m to Buxton Crescent and Spa in Derbyshire, £9.7m to the Victoria and Albert Museum's medieval and renaissance galleries in London, £10.3m to the Museum of Bristol, £4.8m to the Summerlea Heritage Park in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and £9.6m to the Tank Museum in Dorset. Hull History Centre received a stage one pass, with £7.7m earmarked for the project, dependent on a successful stage two application.
The HLF also set aside £1.9m for the BBC Two series Restoration Village, in which 21 buildings around the UK compete to win a public vote, with eight finalists eligible for planning grants of up to £50,000 and a winner taking the rest of the prize fund, which will include a projected £3m from telephone votes. The series, produced by Endemol, the company responsible for Big Brother, began at the end of July, and the final will be broadcast on 17 September.
One of the finalists is the Watts Gallery in Surrey, which controversially proposed to sell two paintings from its collection earlier this year (Museums Journal July 2006, p5).
Meanwhile, the Big Lottery Fund has awarded a £500,000 development grant to the National Museum of Science and Industry at Wroughton, near Swindon, for its National Collections Centre. The funding will go towards the cost of developing the project for the stage two application in May 2007. The museum will be applying for a further £48m.
The plan to revamp Exhibition Road in South Kensington got the knock-back from the Big Lottery. The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea had asked for £25m towards its plan to develop the area between the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the V&A. The council will now be seeking alternative funding.
Patrick Steel
