Last night, BBC political editor Nick Robinson’s report on the Ten O’Clock News took him to Grantham, where he called into the local Grantham Museum. Some footage was shown of the permanent exhibition about the town’s most famous living resident, but nothing of some of the other material on display there. This includes a unique collection of Dambuster artifacts, some sourced from the papers of the 617 Squadron’s founding Adjutant, Harry Humphries.
As Robinson mentioned during his film (which you can find on the BBC website) this museum is under threat of closure. Back in July, Lincolnshire County Council announced that it would save £90,000 by closing it and a small number of other local museums. This led to outrage in the town and a vigorous campaign has been waged locally. The museum may be saved if enough volunteers can be found to help, and enough political pressure is brought to bear on local councillors. If you live in Lincolnshire, please contact the campaign and add your voice.
In the meantime, I have been told by local sources that if the museum is closed the collection will be put into safe storage, rather than being dispersed. This is some compensation, but no substitute for keeping such interesting material accessible to local people who have, after all, paid for it.
Dambusters Blog 