Bilsthorpe heritage museum fears closure over loss of home

A Nottinghamshire village charity has appealed for help in finding a new home, after its current premises were earmarked for demolition.

Bilsthorpe's Heritage Museum is housed next to the old village hall on land which is set to be redeveloped.

Volunteers for the museum, which is largely devoted to the local colliery, said it would be "disastrous" if the collection were broken up.

The parish council said no similar space was available for such low rent.

The pit was worked from 1925 but closed in 1997, with more than 70 miners being killed in accidents during this time.

The museum started in part of old squash courts and a gym behind the main hall building, but has gradually expanded to fill the whole area.

Former miner Brian Jackson now volunteers at the museum and fears for its future.

He said: "Losing it would be absolutely disastrous.

"I would dread to think that we would close or that we would be so restricted that we could not show half of what we have got.

"Much of what we have is totally irreplaceable, it is what has been donated by people, donated by the colliery or brought in when people pass on.

"It is totally irreplaceable and they want to close us."

Museum staff said it also offered far more than exhibits from the mines, with services like a drop-in centre for villagers to look through old photos, outreach educational visits and local village shows.

Mr Jackson said: "It's something that needs to be remembered.

"It put a lot of money into the village; it gave a lot of people good, comfortable lives."

Ross Stoneman, chairman of the parish council, said plans to renovate the village hall had been suspended after serious structural issues were found.

This meant the museum, which is charged a token rent, would lose its current venue.

"The plan is now to either sell the village hall land to build a new community hub on Crompton Road or to use the land for a new community building," he said.

"Either way, the current buildings have to go, and there is just nowhere else of that size that the museum can afford to use."

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