22 March 2012>
Plans for a new home for The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) were announced today by the BPMA, Royal Mail Group and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The new Postal Museum will provide access to the BPMA's unique collections
of 400 years of postal, social and design history, including
photographs, posters, vehicles, pillar boxes, employment records of
millions of people and a world-class stamp collection.
Under a plan endorsed by the Government, the new centre will be established at Calthorpe House, on London's Mount Pleasant site, where the country's oldest mail centre is located. It is close to the existing home of the BPMA at Freeling House, which has very limited space for exhibitions and displays.
Royal Mail Group will grant a lease of 999 years for Calthorpe House,
a property which will provide a secure foundation for the BPMA once
redeveloped and extended. Agreements have been signed with Royal Mail
and Post Office Ltd
(POL) for a £6m long term, low interest loan to fund the conversion of
Calthorpe House to meet the basic needs of the organisation. In
addition, Royal Mail and POL are providing other support, including a
£500,000 grant.
A fundraising campaign by the BPMA will be launched shortly to raise
the remaining funds required to create a state of the art museum and
visitor facility. The BPMA is an independent charity set up in 2004 to
care for two significant collections: The Royal Mail Archive and the
collections of the former National Postal Museum. It is the BPMA's
mission to increase public access to these collections, making the story
they tell of communication, industry and innovation accessible to
everyone.
The new centre will allow the BPMA to exhibit objects from its
fascinating museum collection, which is currently held in storage. It
will also include educational facilities for visiting schools.
More details on the BPMA website > http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/calthorpehouse
This is very good news!
This sounds like excellent news. I do hope they can get all the funds needed.
ReplyDeleteWe will all have the opportunity to donate to the development fund, I'm sure.
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