May 2009

You are invited to a Public meeting on Wednesday 10 June, at Harmony Hall, Truro Road, Walthamstow, at 7.45pm to discuss the future of the William Morris Gallery

In the last two years there has been a lot of upheaval and change at the Gallery, accompanied by much anger, discussion and debate: budgets have been cut, then restored, staff dismissed and others appointed.

At the root of the problems lies the fact that the world’s premier William Morris collection is owned and financed solely by an impoverished London Borough, an unfair burden in uncertain times.

To help secure its future, group of local residents formed the William Morris Independent Trust Group and, with the help of professional advice and research, have drafted a plan to run the Gallery as an Independent Trust. The Gallery and the collection would still be owned by the Council, and admission would be free as always, but management would be by the Trust, and the budget secure from the ups and downs of Council funding. This structure would make it much easier to attract outside funding, and build the security to keep the Gallery as a world-class institution.

This meeting will see the same presentation already shown to the Council’s Cabinet Member for Arts, Culture and Leisure: everyone who cares about the Gallery is welcome to comment, offer their own ideas, and discuss how to help the Borough’s prime attraction thrive.

Please join us on June 10th.

Martin Duncan-Jones
Michael Gold
Ros Kane
Anita Morse
wmorristrust@yahoo.com

Harmony Hall in Truro Road is off  the High St, near the side entrance to Selbourne Walk.

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With the news that UCKG will be submitting plans again to convert the cinema into a church - the  campaign to save Walthamstow’s last remaining cinema has stepped up  gear. We’re aware that many of the people who visit this site live or work in Waltham Forest and therefore that you will want to get involved. The church is spending vast amounts of money on consultants and PR and many local Councillors have unfortunately bought into this. It’s therefore important that as many people as possible get involved, write to their Councillors, support any action, help by telling friends and family.

On June 13th there is a Children’s demo outside the cinema from 4.15pm, see the McGuffn’s website for  more details.

There are several important websites to be kept up to date with the news, The McGuffin’s Film and Television Society who are leading the campaign, join the Facebook page and follow the campaign on Twitter.

Please note, the meeting due to take place on Thursday 28th May, at St Mary’s Welcome Centre,Walthamstow Village at 7.30 p.m has been cancelled and will be rescheduled soon. Please do pass on this information. Thank you.

The William Morris Independent Trust Group

You are invited to a Public meeting on Thursday 28th May, at St Mary’s Welcome Centre,Walthamstow Village at 7.30 p.m.to discuss the future of the William Morris Gallery.

Over the last 2 years there has been much discussion and debate, sometimes acrimonious, about the future of the William Morris Gallery, which is owned and managed by the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The world’s premier William Morris museum/gallery is solely financed by an impoverished London council, which is unfair and has, inevitably, led to falling standards.

A group of local residents formed the William Morris Independent Trust Group and, with the help of professional advice and research, have drafted a plan to have the Gallery run by an Independent Trust. The Gallery and the collection would still be owned by the Council, and admission would be free as always, but the management would be by the Trust. The use of this organisational structure for the Gallery would allow outside financial investment in the Gallery and the William Morris Gallery could again, become a world-class institution.

The meeting will see the same presentation of the plan that was given to the London Borough of Waltham Forest Cabinet member for Arts, Leisure and Culture, and everyone is welcome to comment, put forward other ideas and discuss how to restore the Gallery to its previous pre-eminence.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting,

Martin Duncan Jones, Michael Gold, Ros Kane, Anita Morse
The William Morris Independent Trust Group
wmorristrust@yahoo.com