TO FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE LIVESEY MUSEUM
A very long time I know but we have finally got some news about the fate of the Livesey Building.
Southwark Council voted in November to lease the building to Treasure House – a community interest company who state their aim as follows:
“Our aim is to re-engage young people who have fallen behind in mainstream education. We provide a flexible, creative curriculum which is tailored to the needs of the individual student. At KS3 we offer project based learning which enables our students to explore aspects of the curriculum in a personalised way. As well as covering the core curriculum we place a special emphasis on art and creativity”
You can read more about them on their website: http://www.
As part of their proposal Treasure House included:
An indicative programme of community activity has been submitted, including:-
- Establishing a creative resource bank including textbooks, worksheets,course outlines and programmes, musical instruments, images, sound files, videos, reusable art materials and onsite facilities including pottery equipment and a photography darkroom
- A specific project to collect memories of the Old Kent Road, through collecting oral, visual and printed materials
- Offering a range of community learning opportunities in partnership with other providers, including adult literacy and numeracy, ESOL, etc.
- Art classes for adults and children
- Photography courses
You can read the full details on Southwark Council website – meeting documents for the 20/11/2012 cabinet meeting.
Additionally there will be an opportunity for local people to find out more about the proposals and voice any concerns or suggestions which will be fed back to the Charity Commission as follows:
“The Charity Commission has advised that it will consider preparation of a cypres scheme following further local consultation on the Treasure House proposals should they be approved by Cabinet. Should Cabinet agree the recommendations of this report, an open day will be held at the Livesey building in January 2013, giving local people an opportunity to see and discuss the proposals of Treasure House and to put ideas forward. [Council] Officers will capture feedback from participants to inform our response to the Charity Commission”
You can also contact the Charity Commission directly with your views and we will send you contact information shortly.
This seems to be a good way forward for the Livesey building and we hope that some of you can go to the open day in January and contirbute to the Treasure House proposals. If you are unable to attend please email Veronica Ward, the Southwark Council cabinet member for Culture and also let us know what you think.
We still hold £15k which was raised at the time of the original campaign and will be considering whether we should use this money to support Treasure House in their plans. Please let us know what you think.
Hoping to see you at the open day. We’ll let you know when it is!
Liz Wilkinson
Friends of the Livesey Museum for Children
The Open Day is on 31st January – 12pm to 6pm. Hope to see you there.
You can contact Friends of the Livesey Museum on
Liz Wilkinson
Friends of the Livesey Museum