The town received an early Christmas present when it was confirmed by the Heritage Lottery fund that Crawley Borough Council, in partnership with Crawley Museum Society, has been awarded £1.15m to provide a new museum in the town centre.
The new museum will be located in The Tree and The Tree Annexe with a glass link between. The two and work is expected to start in April 2015 and take around 18 months to complete. The initial bid was submitted to the Lottery fund in June 2011.
The successful bid will see The Tree restored and renovated with new specialist display facilities as well as providing opportunities for volunteers and the public to get involved. The current museum in Goffs Park House is cramped and only holds about 10% of the society’s artefacts.
The Tree gives us the potential to improve heritage in Crawley, with its central location, architectural quality and greater size than the current museum in Goffs Park House. The Tree dates from around 1280 and is a Grade II listed building and well worth preserving.
Crawley Museum Society will operate the new service with financial support from the council. The total cost of the project is £1.95m. Crawley Borough Council had already agreed to spend £763,000 to refurbish The Tree and bring it up to standard. Planning permission, which was a requirement of the bid, has already been granted.
I am aware that The Museum society members are delighted to hear the news which gives the opportunity for the museum service to take account of all the rich diversity and heritage of Crawley in an improved and enlarged setting. The new museum will provide a massive boost to the regeneration and heritage in the town, giving the museum a much more central location from which to inform, educate and entertain.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our residents of Crawley a very happy Christmas. We have seen during the past year i the town improve in several areas with new facilities at Tilgate Park, new development in the town centre and improvements to Worth Park as well as plans to improve several local areas including Ifield Mill pond. I believe that the New Year will see Crawley continuing to live up to its motto of ‘I grow and I rejoice’.
Councillor Dr Howard Bloom
Leader of Crawley Borough Council