From Bob Asplet.
I HAVE been involved with the Maritime Museum as a volunteer since it opened, and before that, as a member of the Friends of the Maritime Museum, was part of the group involved in bringing the museum into existence.

The States decision to fund the setting up, including the building conversion, with a grant of £1.4 million is rightly recognised as a great step in preserving our maritime history, and the fact that shortly after opening the Maritime Museum was voted Museum of the year is a tribute to the foresight of the States of Jersey and the design team involved.

It would be a retrograde step to allow the museum to close, as if this happens, it will never reopen.

This is a fact, because the building is leased from Jersey Harbours, and Heritage will have to remove all furniture and fittings before handing the building back.

Artefacts will of course be preserved, but the fittings which make the museum so attractive will just be broken up and recycled, because there is no storage facility for them, even if they could be removed from the site without damage.

Heritage owns several boats of historic significance, five of which are on the National Register. Over the last decade a small group of volunteers have been involved in the restoration of these historic boats.

If the museum closes there will be no workshop suitable for their continued maintenance, and I doubt if there will be the will among the volunteers to continue the ongoing work.
Runnymede,
Manor Park Road,
St Helier.