A major pledge of up to £100,000 by an anonymous donor has given a substantial boost to the fundraising Appeal for the development of Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum's Teign Heritage Centre.  David Force, Teign Heritage Appeal Chairman, emphasised the importance of this support, “This very generous pledge means we have now achieved over £720,000 of the total project cost of £843,290, comprising both financial and ‘in kind’ support. We had already received a major pledge of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, so we are now working hard to raise the remaining target of £120,000, to make this important project a reality. We would ask individuals and organisations if they would consider giving a donation to help us complete the Appeal, enabling us to commence work on the Teign Heritage Centre.”  The current Museum occupies a three-storey Georgian building where galleries and a significant proportion of the collections are inaccessible to people with mobility problems, elderly people or those with young children. The Museum also has very limited space and many historic items cannot currently be displayed.  The new Teign Heritage Centre will be designed to provide the community and visitors to the area with a much-needed, fully accessible and flexible heritage and education centre, whilst still keeping the current friendly and helpful atmosphere.  “The Teign Heritage Centre is an extremely exciting and important development for Teignmouth and Shaldon. We would ask the local community to help us bring this landmark project to fruition for all to enjoy”, stated Colin Trigger, Chair of Trustees.  If you would like to make a donation to the Teign Heritage Appeal please send your cheque, made payable to Teign Heritage, to Teignmouth & Shaldon Museum, 29 French Street, Teignmouth, TQ14 8ST.

The Museum is a successful, volunteer-run charitable organisation situated in Teignmouth. It houses an important collection of artefacts and archive material of local and regional significance. The Museum currently offers a wide range of educational activities for schoolchildren and also arranges lectures and visits, responds to research enquiries, mounts exhibitions and carries out an extensive oral history programme. However, the Museum has no modern visitor facilities and very limited space - it occupies a three-storey Georgian building, so upstairs galleries and the archives are not accessible to everyone. We have a small archive store so some of our artefacts are suffering from inadequate storage facilities and many historic items are not on display.

After considerable consultation and preparation, a company limited by guarantee, was formed, Teign Heritage, to draw up plans to completely refurbish and extend the building onto adjacent land. This major redevelopment is being called the Teign Heritage Project. The building work is expected to start in the spring of 2009 and the new Museum to re-open in early 2010.

Not only will the new Museum safeguard the area's important heritage for future generations, but it will be of immense value to the local community and the local economy. The new Museum will provide the community and visitors to the area with a fully accessible building, offering new exhibitions and an exciting programme of events and activities. It will provide Teignmouth, Shaldon and the surrounding area with a landmark building which people will describe as a 'must visit' venue at the heart of the community; a venue that everyone in the area, as well as visitors to the town, will want to use, will be proud of and will want to be part of.

Education groups (which include local schools, pre-schools and nurseries, Special Schools, language students, adult education groups and researchers) are a major audience for the new Museum and 'Heritage Centre' and they will benefit greatly from the new facilities, services and programmes. The 'Heritage Centre' will also offer diverse opportunities for the local community to volunteer and get involved in heritage projects.

The Teign Heritage Project will cost £835,000 - £700,000 of which will need to come from external funding sources. The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Project £400,000 in March 2007. The remainder - £300,000 - is being sought from charitable organisations, trusts and foundations, businesses, the local community and other donors during the course of 2007-2008.

Teign Heritage has drawn up a comprehensive Fundraising Strategy and has employed experienced, professional fundraisers to help in this crucial task. With your help we are confident that we will be able to raise the remaining funding.

For more information about the 'Teign Heritage Project' and to make a donation, contact Simon Pearson on 01803 290006 or email on simon@pearsonfundraising.co.uk  

 

After keeping all fingers and toes crossed for Tuesday 13th March 2007, we can now uncross them. The message came through in the early afternoon that Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum have been granted Heritage Lottery Funding.
Now the company formed by the museum - Teign Heritage (limited by guarantee) - can happily proceed with their fundraising efforts to raise the outstanding monies needed to build and furnish our extension.
More details will follow - once we come down from Cloud 9.

In the Western Morning News of Tuesday 30 January 2007 a headline stated "Actor's new role as patron of heritage project".
The news item went on to say "Hornblower star Robert Lindsay has been named as the patron of a major project to completely redevelop a popular West-country museum.
Mr Lindsay, known for playing South Devon hero Admiral Edward Pellew in the ITV dramatisation of CS Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, said he hoped to visit the Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum when time permits.
The South Devon-based museum, in French Street, Teignmouth, has launched the Teign Heritage Project to redevelop the volunteer-run building.
Organisers say Mr Lindsay, whose first job was as a dialect coach with a repertory company in Exeter, will play a key role in the project, raising its profile locally and nationally helping the museum's fundraising campaign.
Mr Lindsay, who filmed the Hornblower series in Plymouth where his father was once based in the Navy, said "I am delighted to become patron of the Teign Heritage Project.
"I remember researching Pellew in great detail before the filming of Hornblower. Teignmouth, and the South Devon coast around the town, featured prominently throughout his amazing career and into his retirement.
"The redevelopment of the museum will see the redisplay of the Pellew collection and this will offer visitors an opportunity to appreciate the contribution of the great man to the Britain's naval heritage.
"I am planning a visit when things calm down a little. In the meantime, I will be keeping up-to-date with progress on the fundraising campaign and will be promoting the project whenever I can."
Sir Edward Pellew, who will form a centrepiece of the redeveloped museum, had strong links to the Westcountry throughout his life.
Both Sir Edward and his brother Israel became admirals as they embarked on careers at sea.
Sir Edward ...was also awarded the title of Lord Exmouth and later Viscount Exmouth.
Colin Trigger, chairman of the Teign Heritage Project, said he was delighted at Mr. Lindsay's involvement.
The museum has applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund and will hear the outcome in March but need to raise £400,000 from other sources over the next year.
The small town museum will become a much larger, exciting and accessible heritage centre with much-needed community space. With Robert Lindsay's patronage over the coming months it will give the museum the profile it deserves.

On Wednesday 31 January 2007 the museum had a visit from the ITV West Country News team. Beryl King, Curator and Pat Warner, Archivist spoke to the television presenters about the museum, its artefacts and the plans for expansion, explaining that a lot will depend on the outcome of the application for Heritage Lottery Funding. The HLF will be meeting on 13 March 2007 to make a final decision about funding for the new building.
The extension will enlarge the museum's capability for exhibiting the artefacts that it holds - a large number of which are held in storage of one sort or another.
Also planned, of course, is wheelchair access and lift. The museum have many disabled people visiting and at the present time it is almost impossible for them to view the top two floors.

All the volunteers associated with the museum are keeping their fingers crossed for 13 March 2007.

Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum, which was assessed by the Accreditation Panel at their meeting on the 21st September 2006 is extremely pleased to have been awarded Full Accreditation. One of the first, completely volunteer run, museums to achieve this in our area.