Letters

Maev Kennedy makes light of the government’s decision to withdraw £10m funding from the Stonehenge project. The media response has, understandably, focused on the building side of the project – the visitor centre. What has not been mentioned are the environmental improvements the scheme will bring. 

It will enable us to remove the 40-year-old, woefully inadequate facilities adjacent to the stones; fulfil the promise made by the government to Unesco in 1986 to close the A344, which practically touches the heel stone; remove the hideous chain-link fence in front of the stones; and restore the grassland setting of this most famous ancient monument which attracts nearly one million visitors a year from all over the world. 

Broadening understanding of, and access to, the richest prehistoric landscape in Europe is also a key objective of the project. Working in partnership with the National Trust, the Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, we will for the first time be able to tell the story of this extraordinary site in a modern exhibition gallery. 

We will also, for the first time, be able to offer the 40,000 educational group visitors a learning base – under cover. And then there is the matter of some decent toilets and a cafe. These are all features that the modern museum visitor takes for granted. Why should it be any different for the heritage visitor? 

Too many projects to improve the presentation of this country’s top heritage site have come and gone over the last 25 years. This time we are nearer to achieving a result than ever before and we will be taking up Jeremy Hunt’s challenge of thinking “inventively and creatively” working closely with all concerned to achieve the project without the public sector funding we had hoped for. Stonehenge deserves no less.

I was saddened to read the article by Sarah Selwood on the newly refurbished Jewish Museum in London.

From the point of view of a professional, many of Selwood’s criticisms may have been valid – as a non-professional, I wouldn’t know. While I would agree with her wholeheartedly about the cafe, I cannot agree with any of her other negative comments. 

My husband and I found the day we spent at the museum both moving and enormously interesting. 

The staff throughout the museum were friendly and helpful, the room stewards willing to talk and inform. It was very busy, with a buzz of conversation as people shared their thoughts with each other, both friends and strangers. 

A rather special experience.

Following the recent review of Discover Greenwich, I would like to respond to Oliver Green’s objection to the lack of a linear storyline for the exhibition. The decision not to adopt a single strand narrative approach was deliberate.  

Our visitors come to Discover Greenwich for an introduction to the things they can see and do in the wider Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, and the Old Royal Naval College in particular. 

Judging from the overwhelmingly positive visitor feedback we have received, they are very happy with this approach, and engage at all levels with the exhibits, whether displays of historic objects or interactives in their various forms.  

With more than 250,000 visits to Discover Greenwich in the first three months since it opened, coupled with a hugely increased dwell time, we feel that Green’s comment that the interpretative approach “probably doesn’t hit the spot for anyone” is itself wide of the mark.