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Appeal for Funds by the Friends of the Spode Museum

A number of events in 2008 have given the Friends cause for concern about the safety of the Spode Museum’s collection:

Where the Museum’s roof had been left unrepaired, floods in August seriously damaged cabinets in which objects were housed. The Museum has had to be cleared and valuable items are presently in temporary storage elsewhere in the Factory
The departure of Pam Woolliscroft, the curator, has meant a loss of day-to-day continuity of care for the collection and of hands-on knowledge of it
Some of the copperplates owned by the Spode Museum Trust, including some important ones, were removed in error by Spode in September and melted down as scrap
Within the coming months, Spode is likely to be relocating altogether from the Church St. suite; it has requested the Trustees to find temporary housing for the Collection
Royal Worcester Spode went into administration on November 6, 2008.

Working with the Staffordshire County Archive, the Staffordshire Museums Service, the West Midlands MLA and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, the Trustees have found safe storage away from the Spode factory site for all of the paper archive, all of the remaining copperplates and about half of the ceramics collection. The paper archive has already been moved.

The cost of moving the remainder of the Museum’s collection (excluding the cost of ongoing storage) will be in the region of 20-25,000 GBP, depending on how the move is done. It is thought to be unlikely that Spode will contribute to this, and the Friend’s resources are only in the order of 8,000 GBP.

We are therefore urgently appealing for more funds. Any contribution, however small, will be gratefully received.

Please help save the Spode Museum Collection

UK members should send a check, made payable to Friends of the Spode Museum to: Mrs. Janis Rodwell, PO Box 14896, Solihull, B91 9NE. Overseas members can make a donation through PayPal by accessing the Friends’ website: www.spodefriends.org.uk. Once on the site, click on “Contact Us” and then “Make a donation through PayPal.” Once you have logged in to PayPal, click on the “Send Money” tab and use the following email address: admin@spodefriends.org.uk in the “To” line. Please help if you can.

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