19 replies to this topic

[Dave]

I'm hearing about things to do with the council moving the Archive from its current location to the Pilkington Suite.

Whereabuts is the Pilkington Suite - is it in the Gamble? < It is - same floor.

The current rooms will be cleared out and used as offices for Social Services. There is much concern regards access to and the preservation of the Electoral Rolls amongst other things and this news has come as a bit of a shock to the FHS - and probably to the paid staff who currently look after things.

There's going to be a council meeting at the town hall about this on Wednesday at 4pm that the public will be allowed to attend (but not ask any questions) where I imagine that the full implications will be explained.

Meanwhile, can anyone shed any more light on this?

[non sibi sed omnibus]

Dave,you will get quite a bit on this.The move is aimed to get the archive into the Godfrey Pilkington room that is moving into the world of glass.I have been using the archive last year to build up a family tree.I did comment to the staff why other towns were getting improvement,they werent.The current rooms whilst clean are a bit oldie worldie in the Gamble institute.Its possibly the situation over storage and lack of access to non coomputer literate people and loss of paperwork that is a main issue.

[Thumpa lumpa]

Dave,

don't know if you will receive it but I have sent you an e mail, to admin with all the details about this subject

[RATTY]

Dont know anything about this but I dont suppose it matters where its all kept as long as it is easily accessible to the public and in a decent place and there are issues about accessing the archives,(for the staff) a lot of which are down a long flight of stairs so maybe its a bit to do with that and other issues?

The thing I dont like about it is the way all councils seem to be commandeering premises and public spaces that were donated to the "public" NOT for council or government use (just look at whats being stolen from us in Prescot town)

Just what does social services mean exactly, was this what the building was meant for and is it legal?


What do others think

[Dave]

I've gleaned some other info via various things that are circulating.

The concerns are in this PDF.

(Ta Thmpa)

[Phyll]

Hi Dave, That's terrible, is there anyway we can fight this, send letters or emails or something?

[busybee]

My brother told me about it yesterday and said you can fill in a complaints form which is on the council site.

[Agent Mulder]

I have heard there is a 'Council Meeting' at The World Of Glass on the 11th January at 6.15pm. Anyone can attend and I think if we care enough about the archives we should try to attend.

[Thumpa lumpa]

Well said Agent, and welcome to Connect

[leschip]

You can attend-- but you can't speak

[cumbriakid]

Social services took over the Art School space in the Gamble years ago .Seems they get what they want..
St.Helens council is full of people who have no real interest in the history or any sense or affinity with the place. It's a lucrative job, end of.

Loss of the records to London would be a complete disaster - how inconvenient is the British Library? or other London institution? Costs a bomb to go there or to hire a researcher. Only people like Marie Rimmer, if she were at all interested, could afford to do it.
They have got away with raping the town of any character or historical reference so it's consistent that they now want to disperse or destroy the archives.
Whilst they are discussing this they might want to consider extending their free car parking onto Victoria Square and banning anyone who is not a St Helens council employee from the town centre area.

[Dave]

Yes, I mostly like that one cumbriakid.

A little bit of hyperbole never really did any harm.

[Dave]

Any news about this?

Did anyone go to the meetings?

What's happening?

[Phyll]

Could only find this Dave. Let us know if you find out anymore.

http://www.sthelenss...on_the_move___/

[antonio111]

I got an email after the meeting from the St Helens Townships FHS but deleted it as my inbox was overflowing, think the general gist of it was things are not as bad as first thought and the FHS are now being included in the discussions.