GCCC Museum & Learning Centre
12 March 2014
Update from Rex Body, Chairman of the Heritage Committee
March 2014
It has been a very busy few months for the Heritage Committee and I want to let you know how our plans are progressing. First of all, the Heritage Committee would like to thank all of you who have been generous in their donations to become a “Friend” in support of the planning and development of the new Museum and Learning Centre. This has been encouraging and we now have 100 Friends - but we need more!
As you know our objectives are to plan and develop a new, state of the art Museum and Learning Centre. This will illustrate the great history and achievements of GCCC for you and the general public and will also provide a cricket themed basis for educational activities for schools. Friday October 23rd 2015 is the 100th anniversary of WG Grace’s death and if it is remotely possible we would really like to open the Museum and Learning Centre on this date.
The Heritage Committee’s work in the past few months has been concentrated on the following ongoing main areas:
Firstly, we needed to identify a company that could create the kind of new Museum and Learning Centre that the Club deserves. They also needed to be in a position to assist us with the very demanding process of preparing the bid for Heritage Lottery funding. After a standard tendering process and interviews, we have identified such a company. They have considerable experience in designing and developing major sporting museums and have come up with some exciting design proposals for us.
Secondly we wanted to seek registered Charitable Trust status. Now that we have achieved the minimum level of income required by the Charity Commissioners, we have submitted our application and we should know the result very soon.
The third major area is applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a large grant, which is both very complex and time consuming. It is a very tight schedule but, if all the application stages go to plan, we should finally know whether or not we have been granted the necessary funding in July 2015. There will be competing projects in our region and so no matter how good our submission is there are no guarantees of success.
The final area is that of fund raising. Whilst the HLF would hopefully provide the major part of the finance we need, it requires any projects it funds to provide a minimum of 5% -10% of the total project cost themselves. We are, therefore, urgently seeking additional funding sources to meet our substantial development costs. I would urge members, if they have not already done so, to make a donation and become a Friend. We are also inviting people who are able to make a substantial donation in excess of £500 to become Founding Patrons of the Museum and Learning Centre. If you know of any companies, organizations or individuals who might be prepared to support the Museum and Learning Centre in this or any other way, will you please let me know or ask them to contact me?
As part of our HLF application, we need to demonstrate that we have major support from the community and a crucial part of this would be from members. I would therefore be very grateful if those of you who do support the plan for a new Museum and Learning Centre, (whether or not you become a Friend) would email me at rexbody281@btinternet.com or write to me at the Club to say this is the case.
If you would like to become a Friend of the Museum and Learning Centre please send your name, contact details and a cheque made payable to GCCC Heritage to: Rex Body, The Heritage Committee, The County Ground, Nevil Road, Bristol BS7 9EJ. You can become a Friend for 1 year (a minimum donation of £10) or 3 years (a minimum donation of £30)