Eastleigh Borough Council Eastleigh Museum Joint Management Committee Meeting

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2021 be agreed as a correct record.

Emma Banks, Community Manager representing the Hampshire Cultural Trust presented a report on activities at, or relating to, Eastleigh Museum. The Museum opened to the public on 17 May 2021 in conjunction with COVID guidelines and there had been steady visitor figures since then including 547 visitors in June, the café is also open.

With the easing of restrictions from 19 July 2021, staff will be encouraged to wear masks. Current precaution measures such as Perspex screens will be used to keep in line with recommendations from Cultural Trust.

One Community delivered a spring half term trail as well as a mug painting activity which was the first on site activity since the easing of COVID measures and acted as a good trial for summer activities. Horizon 20:20 has continued as well as the work with the Bridge Education Centre with workshops such as Outside Willow Making, Clay Portraiture, creativity boxes and some funding by Tesco Bags for Help which has helped deliver a relaxing outdoor space for young people.

The Industrious Minds Project had been paused since January but has since restarted in July with Community Engagement coordinator Alexandra Walker being employed two days a week. One day a week will be focused on Industrious Minds and the other on continuing to work with the story group and the Options Appraisal Project.

Upcoming exhibitions include a collaborative exhibition with Hampshire Police on the topic of modern-day slavery and the popular Christmas Tree exhibition that One Community leads. Local Area Manager, Guy Riddoch, stated that the Christmas lights will be up from 20 November 2021 and that community stalls could go ahead for the Museum to use and promote its exhibitions. The parade is doubtful considering the number of current COVID cases and potential further restrictions. Fireworks and a Santa’s Grotto will also be dependent on restrictions.

The Local Area Manager updated the group on the Trust Library Service. There had been two meetings for co-location of library and museum, which was a long-term aspiration over the next 3-5 years. The Museum will need to plan for a short-medium future in its current location. There is still a will to modernise within this timeframe as much as possible. Emma Banks noted that a large proportion of the work carried out in the appraisals report was developing relationships with the community. When discussing potential future locations for the Museum it was noted that Eastleigh Borough Council own the Burtons building as well as Enterprise House in central Eastleigh. Both these buildings require work/ research to state whether either of them can be adapted for the Museum.

Asset Management Team are working on alternative premises and were hoping to have an update at the next meeting. The museum will continue its general interim plan in engaging with the local community.

Consideration was given to the Financial Report presented by Jess Reilly from Hampshire Cultural Trust. The figures shown in the meeting corresponded to Quarter 1 of 2021 rather than Quarter 4 of 2020. There had been less spending than expected for projects and programming at this stage in the year and a lot of the annual budget will be spent in next Quarter’s budget.

No central fundraising had been allocated because it was likely to be focused on future development. Currently awaiting the results of the story groups and options appraisal to make sure that the allocation was being spent as efficiently as possible. Eastleigh Borough Grant is £22,000 rather than £21,000 as noted in the report.

The date and venue of the next meeting was to be confirmed.

Councillor Campbell asked whether Eastleigh Museum will be part of Southampton’s bid to be City of Culture. Jessica said she would investigate this but stressed that she would hope that the Museum would naturally receive more visitors if Southampton had a successful bid.

It is Jean Robert Jones last meeting as she is retiring. Deborah Clothier will be the new leader of One Community from 1 September 2021.