Talks over Tenbury museum move to go ahead

Tenbury Museum, based at the former Victoria Goff's Free School building off Cross Street, is 40 this month having been at the old Victorian building since 1977.

Since 2010 thoughts have turned to finding a more prominent and accessible location in the town as the current building occupies just one room in the building which is slightly hidden from view behind others.

One option on the table is the Old Fire Station next to the site of Tenbury's new Tesco store and, with the store now completed and open, the way has been paved for discussions on leasing it.

Talks are now due to take place between the supermarket chain and the museum to consider this option.

But a survey held to find out the views of people in the town and visitors revealed opinion is split.

Of those that responded to the survey, more than 270 were from Tenbury and the surrounding area while 29 described themselves as visitors.

There was strong agreement that the museum was important for the town, and that it needs to move from the former school.

The fire station option came top of the poll with 162 votes but this was only six more than 156 who favoured the museum being located at the Pump Rooms, which is the present home of Tenbury Town Council.

People taking part in the survey were also asked what they considered to be the most important elements to a good museum.

The ability to learn about the history of the local area came top, narrowly beating having interesting objects to look at in second place. A considerable number of people also believe that access to archives and research facilities are important, as was the presence of friendly and knowledgeable staff.

People also considered interactive displays to encourage the interest of children to be important and also access to toilets.