[Museumfriends] Chantry Bagpipe Museum - an update

[Barry.Say@nspipes.co.uk]

Apologies to all members of this list for a dearth of information. 
Negotiations with the council have been proceding but they have an 
obsession with confidentiality. I have reported to the committee of 
the NPS and the following article has been included in the 
Newsletter.

If anyone would like to see the current proposal concerning the 
chantry, look at 

http://www.castleswoodsandwater.org.uk/publicdocuments

Where the document CWW005 ooutlines the suggestions of the 
consultants. The general opinion is that it will not go ahead in its 
current form, but we are in negotiation.


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An article which appears in th October 2005 issue of the Northumbrian 
Pipers' Society Newsletter:

The Chantry Bagpipe Museum - Status Report September 2005.

When Castle Morpeth invited expressions of commercial interest in the 
Chantry earlier this year, the Morpeth Heritage Crafts and Culture 
Group (MHCCG) was formed to propose that the Chantry should be run by 
a charitable trust, retaining the Bagpipe Museum and craft stalls and 
suggesting other complementary activities. This was an adhoc group 
drawn from those who had been involved in the campaign to prevent the 
Chantry passing out of public ownership. Those involved have 
connections with various interest groups in the area (NPS, 
Antiquaries, Museums, Craft Promotion, Stallholders etc.) but 
employees of the council including Chantry staff,  were excluded in 
order to avoid any possible perception of conflict of interest.

The only other proposal came from the Castles, Woods and Water 
project (CWW). This is a multi-million pound regeneration project for 
the River Wansbeck corridor through Morpeth funded, in part, by a 
grant from the 'Liveability Fund', which is a project from the Office 
of the Deputy Prime Minister. Their preferred option for the Chantry 
involved:
* Removing part of the first floor which is currently part of the 
Bagpipe museum. 
* Cutting through an external wall, turning one of the windows into a 
door. This would allow access to a deck built out over the river
* Constructing a glass extension in the courtyard. This would be as 
high as the roof of the current building.
* The building would then be further modified to contain an up-market 
restaurant and offer retail space particularly to sell items produced 
at a sawmill (which will also be part of CWW).
They are also to incorporate the Morpeth Town Hall in the scheme, but 
planning on that is far less advanced.

Officers of the council suggested that the originators of the two 
plans should collaborate and bring forward a joint scheme. However, 
at this point, the council required that we treated any information 
we received as confidential. This made for some difficulty in keeping 
interested parties informed. Fortunately, this restriction has now 
been lifted, and we understand that Chantry staff may now participate 
in the discussions.

Following some discussions, the CWW proposal was modified to include 
retaining the Bagpipe Museum within the Chantry area. This was 
accepted by the council, and the project moves on to a detailed 
planning stage, for which the council will appoint an architect as 
the lead consultant. We have been assured that MHCCG will be involved 
in drawing up the brief to the architect, and in discussions during 
the planning. This will provide a channel by which the views of 
interested parties (such as the NPS) can be fed into the process. It 
is expected that the process of appointing consultants will take 
about two months, and we are currently making enquiries about the 
exact timetable and the mechanism by which we can influence the brief 
to the architect.

MHCCG are not in favour of the proposals which are currently on offer 
and we are confident that they will not go ahead, because they 
involve too much damage to the fabric of the building. English 
Heritage effectively have power of veto over any development of the 
Chantry if they feel it is not appropriate for such an historic 
building.

In summary, we are just about back to where we were over a year ago, 
except that the council has now committed itself to discussing its 
plans for the Chantry with the interest groups who are involved with 
it., and has accepted a proposal which involves keeping the Bagpipe 
Museum in the Chantry area. As yet, we have lost nothing and may have 
gained a little influence. I think the campaigning will have to 
continue.

Barry Say


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