October Issue 2004

The AIM Bulletin is the main communication channel for the UKs 1000+ independent museums and heritage organisations - half the total provision for the British Isles - which have been in the forefront of the museum movement for over 25 years.

IN THIS ISSUE 

• AIM’s 2005 Annual Conference will be on 5-7 May in York, hosted by the York Museums Trust.
  
  
• The Designated inland waterways collections split between three museums is at risk unless new funding is found, says operator, The Waterways Trust.  It has launched a campaign for £11 million Government funding over 10 years to safeguard the museums at Ellesmere Port, Gloucester and Stoke Bruerne. The trust complains that unlike the national railway, maritime and coal mining museums in receives no Government subsidy, and it wants the money to pay for day-to-day management, conservation and to enable it to offer free entry. High profile supporters for the campaign include the actors David Suchet and Timothy West.  Pages 1 & 2.
  
  
• Independent museums in Scotland have been raising their profile this summer – with representation on the museums group responding to the Cultural Review and at a special meeting for independents with the Scottish Charity Regulator. AIM is involved in both on behalf of its large number of Scottish members.  Meanwhile Frank McAveety, minister for tourism, culture and sport has given the first indication that the predicament of Scottish independents is at last being understood by the Scottish Executive.  He acknowledges how difficult such museums are finding survival, and indicates that a similar scheme to the English Designation project could be started in Scotland to safeguard the most important collections. Page 3.
  
  
• The benefits of adopting procedural frameworks for volunteers similar to those for paid employees has long been recognised, says Adrian Babbidge in his second Bottom Line column on legal and administrative issues. A series of judgements by Employment Tribunals have suggested that the distinction between volunteer and employee is becoming blurred but two recent judgements crystalise the position.  In these cases it was held that volunteers do not enjoy the same employment rights as paid workers.  Some actions can inadvertently create an employment relationship, and thus the rights that brings with it. Adrian Babbidge suggests six things museums should do to ensure they are on the right side of the law.  Page 5.
  
  
• Geevor Tin Mine at Pendeen in Cornwall is ahead of the game where the current VAT questions are concerned for museums. They have not paid VAT on admissions for a year before the Government stipulated it for charitable trusts this June.  Company secretary Sheila Russell developed her own record-keeping methods to enable the project to deal with partial exemption, since they were in the position of most museums of needing to pay VAT on some aspects of their operation. Now, the mine’s trustees will be able to create a budget for 2004/5 in which they can be pretty accurate about the amount of ‘irrecoverable VAT’ they need to budget for.  AIM now wants its members to tell them their VAT stories, to help their lobbying nationally on the issue. Page 7.
  
  
• A £4 million Training Bursary Scheme is to be set up by the Heritage Lottery Fund to arrest the decline of traditional heritage skills in the UK.  The new scheme aims to keep alive skills such as pargeting, flint knapping, heather thatching, dry stone walling, stone masonry, frieze restoration, gold leafing and hedge laying. Independent museums are likely to be interested in the scheme – some already offer training in building restoration or heritage craft skills, such as the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex. Page 12.
  
  

Also in this issue 

• Praise for local museums and their creativity
• Call for Gulbenkian Prize entries 2005
• AIM appoints a new administrator
• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation focuses on small museums and collections
• AIM considers latest report on the future of museum collections
• Huge water rate increase hits West Midlands museum
• Small increase in Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s budget
• AMOT, the Army Museums Ogilby Trust, celebrates its 50th birthday
• MuseumProfile: Sussex Past
  
  

Plus

Information on AIM’s latest events, AIM’s Trading Survey, the Bob Harding Training Fund Bursaries and FOCUS information papers, and the two-page AIM Directory – 30+ providers of products and services for the museum sector.
Further information contacts:  Sam Mullins, AIM chairman - Tel 020 7379 6344.  Fax 020 7565 7250.   Email  samm@ltmuseum.co.uk.  Diana Zeuner, AIM Bulletin editor - Tel/Fax 01243 811364.  Email  heavyhorse@mistral.co.uk.