"Please help prevent the closure of FIREPOWER" Topic

The Royal Artillery's Museum in Woolwich – FIREPOWER – will be closed in 2015 because it has not met its visitor numbers. The local council – Royal Greenwich Council – owns the building and intends to use the building as a cultural centre when the museum closes.

The Royal Artillery is the largest regiment in the British Army and its links with Woolwich go back to the foundation of the Regiment in 1715. It will be a tragedy if this Museum closes and that historic link is broken.

Please think about signing the e-petition that has been set up in an attempt to get this decision overturned.

link

Done it! (it is for British citizens and UK residents only).

That would be travesty. Tried to sight but they only want my opinion if I am a citizen which come to think on it is rather refreshing given the situation over here.

Wish I could sign the petition.

Ubique

Signed; a worthy cause. I'll try to visit it too.

I signed it. I wonder how they check if you are a citizen of the UK.

Done and re-shared.

I'm for 'zero tolerance' on proposals like this … Museums and collections are our commitment to tomorrow's enthusiasts and youngsters.

Phil
P.B.Eye-Candy

Thanks to everyone so far who has bothered to look at and – if allowed – signed the e-petition.

It is a pity that non-UK residents cannot sign, but thanks for you interest.

I've shared the e-petition on our Facebook page.

Henry

MWBG

Unbelievable. Signed.

Devils advocate here. If people aren't showing up, why keep it open? I do a bunch of work for a Catholic diocese and they had to make some tough decisions on closing and merging churches. Having visited some of the churches over the years I was appalled that people were so upset that 'their church' was being closed for financial and attendance reasons when every time I showed up to photograph a Sunday mass there were twelve senior citizens in the pews, and no one else. But at the closing mass the seats were packed with angry middle aged parents who didn't even drop their kids off to Sunday school.

If you want to keep it open, vote with your feet. Show up. bring your kids. Show up twice. Get the attendance numbers up and keep the museum going.

Signed, from Florida, UK citizen though

I have to go with whitphoto here. You didn't use it so you're going to lose it. It's a shame, but that is the way it is. This is a borough museum so I assume that it is being paid for with the local council tax. They might not want their taxes spent on this underused museum. A national petition to a locally elected body – good luck with that.

I hoped it might let me to sign it,because I am Canadian and that count as Mutant British.But,computer says no.

A real shame if this goes ahead. Can't sign the petition as I'm neither a UK citizen nor a resident, but I visited Firepower last summer and thoroughly enjoyed the museum.

By the way,isn't there an option to have it both together somehow:a museum and a cultural centre?It would seem logical.

I have put some more information on my blog here = link

Judging by the statement made by the Chairman of the Royal Artillery Museum Limited, there have been long discussions that have been 'confidential' and that the final decision has yet to be made.

I must admit to being a bit cynical about the commercial reasons behind the pressure to close the museum. It was opened when the rest of the surrounding area was still being developed, and suffered accordingly. Now that the Royal Arsenal site is becoming popular as a residential area (nearby flats and houses can be very expensive (examples are here = link link link there is pressure for the museum to close and the site to be used as a cultural centre. Add that to the fact that the museum is located near to one of the stations on the Crossrail project (see here = en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail : the project is expected to generate a large amount of revenue and increased property prices in places along its route) one begins to get the feeling that just at the point where the museum might have been about to break even, the site is worth more if the use were changed.

Whitphoto and olicana are right; if it isn't being used, then we should not be surprised if it is closed … but this is the Regimental Museum of the largest regiment in the British Army, and if it isn't commercially viable then surely it should receive national and not just local support.

Assuming my understanding of the term 'cultural centre' in 21st century Britain is correct then i suspect sharing such a place with a military museum would be viewed with horror by the yogurt knitting, politically correct, Empire hating nutters that pollute this country these days.

I'll sign.

Mickthemagpie,

In the words of Francis Urquart, 'You might think that, but couldn't possibly comment!'

Signed

I will post this on my facebook page

You know, if we stop teaching kids about the military then there won't be any wars :)

would be viewed with horror by the yogurt knitting, politically correct, Empire hating nutters that pollute this country these days.

and by the war mongering, belligerent, bombastic colonialists too, I imagine.

If it comes to closure, what will happen to the exhibits? A home could be found at Fort Nelson in Portsmouth which already houses several artillery pieces, is part of the Royal Armouries and is in an area already visited by lots of tourists, some of whom are there to see HMS Victory, the RN Subarine museum and other 'military' sites. By the way this is not special pleading, I live about 100 miles from Portsmouth.

I made the same point about this topic in another place. I don't believe they are going to destroy any unique exhibits – these will, I imagine, find a home elsewhere. The collection might be broken up, but not enough people want to visit it where it is, so I cannot see a problem with it closing – more people might actually get to see the stuff.

It is not surprising no one goes, within a couple of miles it has to compete with the Imperial War Museum (Lambeth) and the National Army Museum (Chelsea), not to mention the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich).

The 'realists' may have a point, but, as a Museum friend I have to say that viability assessed in visitor numbers is a pretty arbitrary criterion.

Museums, by and large, don't make money – and never did. Mostly, they are collections assembled by enthusiasts, philanthropists, associations, businesses etc. and exhibited in the public domain by being given to the nation/local authority, or, say, housed on preferential terms, or supported by grants etc. i.e. maintained, one way or another, by the (tax payer/ratepayer/lottery player) public.

Many things can attract visitor numbers, from the development of other local attractions to traffic routes and parking charges. A lot can often come down to publicity budgets being cut …

These trends are more often than not short-term (maybe new management comes in, maybe parking policies change – sometimes a king is found in a carpark …)… and tomorrow's footfall is not the same as yesterday's …

It is the proper job of public bodies, Friends associations, benefactors and – as in this case – petitioners to try to insulate important heritage collections from short term strangulation, political objectives and shifts of fashion.

Many of the collections we enjoy today, buildings we like to visit etc. would have been broken up, sold off (or in the case of historic buildings) demolished in the 1960s had not activists then cared enough to save some (although, of course, not all).

I wish the petitioners well in their endeavours …

Phil

From the local rag:
'This is not the first time Firepower in Woolwich has faced closure. Back in 2007, the museum needed a £120,000.00 GBP cash injection from the council and the Royal Artillery Regiment to keep going after running into fundraising problems.'
Personally I think it's a bit too specialized to attract enough visitors. Apparantly it has a target of 200,000 visitors a year which it never meets. Combine it with a bigger museum like Leeds. Though I dread the thought of what a council run cultural center would actually entail, I can see the financial justification for closure.

Signed it !

Just signed it and have contacted a couple of friends to sign it.

JezEger,

The targets were always set very high and were, in my opinion, unrealistic. To achieve 200,000 visitors would require 550 per day … the sort of numbers that one of the bigger National Trust properties would expect.

In my opinion this museum is a national resource and it is a pity that it is very likely to be shut. The links between Woolwich and the Royal Artillery had existed for nearly 300 years, and it is a great pity that this is being forgotten so quickly after the Regiment left.

The exhibits will not be sold off; they will go into storage until another venue can be found where they can be displayed. I suspect that Larkhill is favourite, although my preference would be to house it at IWM Duxford.

Signed it

Richard

I signed earlier today: my father was a gunner and we need museums as well as monuments to remember those who gave their youth if not their life in our defence.
I went a couple of years ago for the first time and it is an excellent collection. We took a detour driving back to Yorkshire from the South Coast – to date I don't think it's been that easy to get to from central London: better public transport links might be driving property prices up in the area but they should also make it easier for more people to get there. It's location within the old Woolwich Arsenal complex is important too.

Davidp42,

The Thames Clipper runs services along the River Thames from Central London to Woolwich … during the morning and evening rush hours. This is a great pity as the pier that you get on and off the Clipper is a little over 100m from the museum's front doors.

If the Clipper ran during the day you could combine a trip along the Thames (passing the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, the Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval Hospital, and the Thames Barrier) with a visit to the museum.

Signed from 'Dahn Under'!

Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt!

I have also flagged it up with the re-enactor I know.

Signed & passed on.