New Swindon Community Hub An innovative new community hub with café will open soon in Swindon Town Centre. Swindon Hub will provide a welcoming café and community arts space. There’ll also be meeting and event spaces for community groups and small businesses to hire.
The plan is to open the Hub at the start of October. But organisers are opening the doors for a special viewing and Big Clean-up Party this Saturday, 18 September. All are welcome to come along between 10am and 3pm to get inspiration and to share ideas. And help with a spot of cleaning if they can! Donations of cleaning products welcomed.
‘This will be a great chance for Swindon residents to get a sneak preview inside the new Hub’ said Ed Colton, one of the organisers. “We’re planning the Big Clean-up Party so people can meet each other and have some fun. All whilst helping with the important work of getting the building ready’ Ed added.
‘We want the local community to be at the heart of deciding what happens at the Hub. The clean-up event will be a nice chance to get together and start planning’ said Natalie North, another of the volunteers behind the project.
New Swindon Community Hub – Helen Holly and Jol Rose
Location, location, location!
The new cultural hub sits in the heart of the town centre, making use of the empty River Island shop in The Parade. An inclusive social enterprise powered by volunteers, more than twenty of Swindon’s community groups support the Hub. It aims to be a welcoming, accessible, affordable and sustainable place for everyone in Swindon.
Project hopes
The project hopes to support the regeneration of Swindon’s town centre by targeting the problem of empty shops and the need for a community space. One where groups and individuals can interact, exchange ideas, and share resources in a sustainable, low cost venue.
The Hub has a strong environmental ethos. It’ll run in a sustainable and ethical way with involvement from local environmental organisations and upcycled furniture provided by Renew Men’s Shed.
As well as providing a social space where people can meet, eat, learn and create, the Hub provides spaces where small businesses and community and cultural organisations can have a base, run events and share ideas and resources. The arts space will host a busy programme of exhibitions, workshops and events.
‘There is so much energy and potential in Swindon. The Hub will be a place where people can connect and make things happen’ said Jol Rose, another of the volunteers involved. ‘We’re super keen to involve anyone interested in building a positive community in Swindon.’
People can find more information about Swindon Hub on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@hubswindon). Or at www.swindonhub.org.uk
Walk your way to supporting two local charities in the Beat the Street Swindon game!
Beat the Street Swindon Supports Charities The mayor’s two chosen charities will be among the winners when the popular walking, cycling and rolling game Beat the Street returns to Swindon from next week.
Organisers have selected Mayor of Swindon Councillor Garry Perkins’s two chosen charities for his year in office:
1. The Jessie May Children’s Hospice at Home 2. The Harbour Project
Participants can join a school, community or workplace team, or can join one of the two charity teams. These will their own designated leaderboard and can win £350 for first place and £150 for second place.
The Harbour Project is one of the selected charities for Beat the Street Swindon 2021. From left, Holly Grey, Faisal Mayed and Mia O’Sullivan from the Harbour Project pictured with Stuart Arthur from Wiltshire and Swindon Sport
Jessie May
Jessie Mayprovides nursing care at home for children and young people with life-limiting conditions, not expected to live beyond the age of 19.
Chris and Philippa Purrington established Jessie May in September 1996 after the death of their daughter, Jessica May. Jessica died from a genetic condition known as severe Spinal Muscular Atrophy when only four months old. Since the founding of Jessie May, the charity has supported more than 300 children and their families.
The Harbour Project
The Harbour Project helps families and individuals who are seeking asylum in Swindon. It helps them to rebuild their lives by providing advice, support, practical help and friendship. Since starting their work in 2000, with a focus on Kosovan refugees, The Harbour Project now works with people from more than 50 countries. It provides daily English classes, weekly women’s and youth groups and a Steps2Work programme.
Beat the Street
Beat the Street Swindon takes place from Wednesday, 15th September to 27th October. The game encourages friends and families to get active together.
More than 200 Beat Boxes are being installed in locations around the area. Players will use them to score points as they travel as far as possible on foot or by bike.
Players will simply need to hover their Beat the Street game cards over a Beat Box to start their journey. They can score points for themselves and their team for each Beat Box they swipe in the next hour.
Primary children get a fob and a map plus a card for their grown up.
Swindon Borough Council in partnership with Wiltshire and Swindon Sport (WASP), and Swindon Healthy School have brought Beat the Street to you. Intelligent Health are the deliverers of the game.
For more information about where to collect your free Beat the Street card and how to play, visit www.beatthestreet.me/swindon
Following another shocking attack on Swindon Hindu Temple last weekend, the Swindon Equality Coalition has released a statement of solidarity and support
Thieves Target Swindon Hindu Temple We’re shocked and saddened to hear thatSwindon Hindu Temple has again been the target of thieves and vandals.
As a network of people and groups from across Swindon, the Swindon Equality Coalition works to build a town of inclusion and diversity. We stand with our friends in the Hindu community and our message is clear. Swindon will not accept this treatment of one of our important communities.
The number of recent break-ins at the Temple is as shocking as the current attack. The Temple, located in Cheney Manor, has suffered attack five times in the last five months.
Since the first incident in May, when thieves stole copper cables that supplied the power to the council-owned property, the Temple has been without mains electricity. That loss left CCTV, fire and intruder alarms as well as heating and emergency lighting out of action.
Thieves came back less than a month later and stole the entire sub-station. Further attacks have seen doors and furniture destroyed and cash stolen. And, last weekend, the holy altar ransacked with religious items either damaged or stolen.
The significant damage caused during the break-ins has made the premises unfit for purpose until urgent repairs reach completion.
Lack of support
Members of the Hindu community are now sleeping overnight at the Temple to provide some basic security. This is an appalling reflection of the support offered by Swindon’s local authorities.
In support of the Swindon Hindu community:
We urge the Council to arrange for the restoration of the full electricity supply without further delay. The police are appealing for witnesses to the crime. Meanwhile we ask that all measures get taken to:
support the Hindu community and …
… to ensure the safety of the Temple and the people who use it.
We invite the police and local authority to offer effective engagement with the Hindu Community. Engagement to find acceptable solutions for both the immediate situation as well as the long-term. An alternative safe and appropriate site is an urgent priority.
Swindon Equality Coalition
Chair of Swindon Equality Coalition, Michelle Howard, added ‘It is so upsetting that the Hindu community suffer this targeting. We are working to make Swindon a beacon of inclusion and diversity. Thus we will not accept this kind of behaviour.’
‘We stand in solidarity with the Hindu community. And we urge our partners in the police, local authority and other agencies to act with urgency to provide confidence and security to the Hindu community’ Michelle added.
The Swindon Equality Coalition promotes and supports equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout the Borough. We will highlight positive change and good practice. And we will question and challenge, to ensure Swindon becomes a beacon for equality of access and opportunity for all.
MALMESBURY TURNER ON DISPLAY FOR HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
To celebrate the upcoming Heritage Open Days across the UK, volunteers at the Athelstan Museum will be shining a light on their ‘own’ Turner painting. The painting depicts Malmesbury Abbey.
Sharon Nolan, chairman of the museum said: ‘We’re throwing open our doors on Saturday and Sunday September 18 and 19 to celebrate Malmesbury’s own heritage. The highlight of our show will, of course, be our very own ‘Turner’!
‘We’re thrilled to share this amazing piece of art. We’re so proud we’ve secured this iconic picture for future generations’.
Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner, born in 1775, has global recognition as one of the UK’s greatest artists. Some of his best known works include The Fighting Temeraire, The Burning Houses of Parliament and, of course, Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire.
Thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Art Fund and local Wiltshire donors, the Athelstan Museum could buy one of the ninety-six watercolours that make up Turner’s set of ‘Picturesque Views in England and Wales’.
Turner visited Malmesbury as a teenager, made several sketches of the abbey and its setting above the River Avon. It became the inspiration for several artworks later in his life.
The Malmesbury Abbey painting, now housed at Athelstan Museum, came up for sale in 2018 at the Gallery of Richard Green in London. William Sykes spotted it in a magazine advertisement. After months of raising funds and negotiation the picture got bought for the community.
Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days are the UK’s largest festival of heritage and culture. They showcase more than 2,000 locations around the country and highlight the dedication and commitment of 1000s of volunteers. Other local heritage sites which will be open across the weekend include:
1. Ratcliffe & Son 2. Westport Iron Works 3. The Julia and Hans Rausing Building, once the Moravian Church. That’s been recently renovated by the Athelstan Museum. It too will be exhibiting some other items from the museum’s collection.
The Athelstan Museum can trace its origins back to 1931. Back then, the locals made an appeal for items to include in its first collection for display in the town hall.
The Turner holds pride of place at the top of the stairs in the newly renovated mezzanine floor of the museum.
Museum and art gallery summary In recent weeks the Swindon Advertiser have published several articles apropos the museum and art gallery. So what follows is a summary of those articles from the start of August to date.
4th August – Swindon Museum and Art Gallery campaigners promised announcement next week
Thousands of people campaigning against the closure of Swindon’s museum have been urged to be patient as council chiefs prepare to unveil their plans for the future. Swindon Council has come under fire locally and nationally for closing the building in Bath Road because it fell foul of disability discrimination laws.
More than 3,000 people have signed a petition organised by the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, calling for the facility to reopen. The council has also been criticised by the sector’s professional body, the Museums Association. And by the Council for British Archaeology. Campaigners have accused the authority of closing down the museum with no clear plan for its replacement. But cabinet member for culture and heritage, councillor Robert Jandy, said the council would make a major announcement next week.
Work behind the scenes
“A lot of work is going on behind the scenes. Nothing is going into storage. All appropriate stakeholders are involved in in-depth conversations. Cllr Jandy has previously said that the museum building needs hundreds of thousands of pounds of repairs. That aside from extra work to make it compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. There’s a suggestion that the council might us other authority buildings to showcase the collections in the medium term. But conservation bodies say this could be a poor substitute. And further that the long-term scheme lies mired in uncertainty.
The Council for British Archaeology executive director Neil Redfern said in an open letter to the council: “As we understand it there is no detailed plan in place for the new facilities or agreed budget and timescale for delivery of the cultural quarter.”
6th August: Swindon Museum and Art Gallery campaigners encouraged by announcement promise
A PRESSURE group battling to get Swindon’s civic museum reopened has welcomed an assurance by a council chief that its treasures won’t go into storage. Swindon Council is preparing to make a significant announcement about its plans to replace the museum and art gallery in Bath Road, which it has controversially closed.
The authority kept the facility shut as the country emerged from lockdown, saying the building needs expensive repairs and other work to make it comply with disability laws.
This week cabinet member for culture and heritage Robert Jandy told the Adver that it wouldnb’t be putting items into storage as it developed its plans.
Ultimately, it wants to see a new museum and art gallery built in the new Kimmerfields cultural quarter in the town centre. In the meantime, there has been speculation that the council might use other civic buildings to display art and artefacts.
Said SOMAG
The Save our Museum and Art Gallery group said that, until realistic funding for the long-term project was in place, the collections must remain at least as accessible to the public as they are at the moment.
Spokeswoman Linda Kasmaty said:
“We welcome the council’s aspirations for a purpose-built museum and art gallery in a new cultural quarter. But it’s clear that the coming years represent a challenge in securing funding for any major construction and infrastructure project.
“The time lapse between closing the current museum and art gallery and building a new cultural quarter could be many years, or even decades. We’re most concerned that many items that the people of Swindon could normally see in that space would have to go into storage for all that time. So it’s very encouraging to hear the cabinet member responsible for this to say that nothing is going into storage.”
10th August – Thousands sign petition calling for reopening of Gallery and Museum
You’ll find the petition set up by Friends of Swindon Museum & Art Gallery on change.org – signed by 3,337 people thus far.
Last week the new cabinet member for culture, heritage and leisure Robert Jandy urged patience from supporters of the space. He said the council will make an announcement about the future of the collections and how they’ll be displayed this week. Further that they wouldn’t go into storage.
21st August – Swindon Museum & Art Gallery could be re-opened on a temporary basis
Apsley House in Bath Road closed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. And it didn’t reopen with the summer’s relaxation of restrictions.
Swindon Borough Council said the Grade II-listed Regency building is no longer fit for purpose. And further it would cost too much to repair even temporarily. While the authority has announced ambitious plans for a new museum and art gallery, many feared mothballing of the collections for years until a new home was built.
But now, after talks between the new cabinet member for culture, heritage and leisure Robert Jandy and members of the campaign group Save Our Museum & Art Gallery, the council says Apsley House will be among the options for a temporary home for the collections.
“We want all our residents to have the chance to see our wonderful collection. It is a collection to be proud of – let’s share it far and wide.”
Linda Kasmaty, chairman of the Friends of SMAG and founder of the Save Our Museum group said: “Many of our group, including some heritage professionals and friends of the museum and art gallery, were very concerned that Swindon residents, who collectively own the art and artefacts, wouldn’t have access to the larger part of our collections for years.”
What the SOMAG group say
Repair work to Apsley House
The Save our Museum and Art Gallery campaign members have got information about the defects that have appeared in Apsley House since the building closed when lockdown began.
Items obtained under a Freedom of Information request are: 1. Leaking rainwater downpipes and a roof leak. They’ve allowed rainwater into the building leading to mould growth in certain areas. 2. The need for replacement boilers and … 3. … a new fire alarm.
Does this constitute ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds of repairs, aside from extra work to make it compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act‘? As Councillor Jandy claimed?
Alterations to improve accessibility
Apsley House is a Grade II listed building. Ergo it doesn’t legally have to comply with the DDA regulations on accessibility for disabled visitors. Full accessibility for all would be the ideal situation yes. But the fact that Apsley House isn’t compliant is not a valid reason for closure.
In 2019 Swindon Borough Council allocated £400,000 for the refurbishment of Apsley House. They’ve still not spent it.
Government funding for museum buildings
At the beginning of July this year the Council had the opportunity to apply for Government funding under the MEND (Museum Estate and Development) scheme for repair work and accessibility improvements for all the Museum buildings in its care.
So far the Council has not provided any evidence that it has applied for this funding.
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Curator
Sophie Cummings left her post as Curator in January 2020 to take up a new post elsewhere. Swindon Borough Council failed to appoint a replacement.
