Save Swindon Museum and Art Gallery

Not a birthday to celebrate, but we're going to make the best of it! Friday 17th March marks three years since @SwindonCouncil closed the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. Join us at 1pm outside Apsley House for cake and cards and keep up the pressure to #FreeOurCroc

@bestytheposty @FrSMAG There will be whatever people choose to bring! :) We'd love you to bring some cake and join us! 🐊🍰

@FrSMAG @FreeOurCroc Will there be vegan 🌱 cake 🍰 for crocodiles 🐊? Maybe gluten free to for others who can’t do wheat 🌾?

Friends of Swindon Museum & Art Gallery: Third Anniversary of Closure of Swindon Museum and... friendsofsmag.blogspot.com/2023/03/third-… please come and join us to remember this sad occasion @FreeOurCroc

@FrSMAG @Anjelica1956 @helenbarrett @swindonadver @Adver_Daniel @MuseumandArt The council put some homeopathic temporary displays up, but we are still waiting for a clear timeline for the new facility in the Civic Offices.

@Anjelica1956 @helenbarrett @FreeOurCroc Frustrating that the @swindonadver @Adver_Daniel article implied the collections are now at the Civic Offices. As @Anjelica1956 says, a few pieces are on display there. Hopefully @MuseumandArt will soon open properly. @FreeOurCroc

Looking forward to the @FrSMAG AGM this evening, where Cllr Matty Courtliff will be speaking about the current plans for the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. It'll be great to catch up with all the members of the Friends who are planning to be there, too!

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday, it was a great turnout! If you missed it: a) Cllr Courtliff has promised to make the presentation available online very soon b) feel free to send us your thoughts/feedback and we'll pass them on, or just send them straight to SBC

@neilrobinson_88 @Anjelica1956 @SaveOasis @alltheeights @mrcjstevens We've got a long way to go, but we've made a start. It was great to see more of the plans last night, but incredibly disappointing to see that so many decisions had already been made about how to tell the story of Swindon without involving the people of Swindon

@SaveOasis I'd like to say a massive weldone to the team. Without hard work behind the scenes to raise awareness and support the listing the oasis would be long gone! I know we are not over the line yet but at last signs are positive and that is largely down to you guys. 👏👏👏

@mrsba492 @SwindonCouncil @MuseumandArt @RobertBuckland No, a museum hasn't really been part of the plan for the Cultural Quarter since it moved to Kimmerfields - just the Art Pavillion. Essentially, they've decided that the art is something special, but the museum collections not-so-much, so their final resting place is still TBC!

Following this evening’s Scrutiny Committee meeting, the Council will now progress the sale of a plot of land within the 20-acre brownfield site next to Fleming Way to a major financial institution for the development of a high-quality build-to-rent scheme of around 100 homes.

Swindon Borough Council are holding an event to explain, and answer questions about, their plans for a new Swindon Museum and Art Gallery in the Civic Offices. Do come along, find out more, and engage constructively.

If you're a member of the Friends, watch out for the upcoming AGM and please do come along!

Do check out the plans for the Civic Offices that have been published. We're expecting SBC to announce how they'll share more info publicly soon.

We've been meeting with SBC regularly over the last few months about their plans for the new museum and art gallery. Whilst any announcements are theirs to make, not ours - comms still not a strong point - we thing you all deserve an update!

@PatrickSwindon It also has a schools' space, which Apsley didn't have, and which greatly improves a museum's ability to host school groups.

@PatrickSwindon Apsley had 475m^2 (we have architects report), whilst the new ones look slightly smaller, possibly ~465m^2 (although some of that is shop/reception space)

Just had a look at the plans for the @MuseumandArt, and surprised to see that most of the space is actually storage and offices. Display space is less than half total (270m2 ish); less than was at Apsley House (350 ish). I thought we were promised "40% more space"?

Plans for the alterations to the Civic Offices have now been submitted and are up on the SBC planning portal. This is progress, but we need more community invovlement. Check out the plans, below, and let us (and SBC) know your thoughts. pa1.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/a…

As the building is now listed as a Community Asset, there's a brief window for the building to be saved if a suitable buyer and funds can be found.

In 2018, SBC insisted to the @HeritageFundUK that they wouldn't sell it, if the museum left the building, but would instead find a community use for it.

It's heartbreaking and deeply upsetting to see Apsley House placed on a at-risk register. The fate of this key Swindon building has been an issue we've raised from the outset swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20234790.…