Please read article attached.

This petition is based on the interpretation of the council drawings of the planned redevelopment of the museum. As more information has become available, we have adapted it in updates, but the core concern remains the proposed unsympathetic changes to the Victorian museum and its collections.

Re: the Victorian Gallery being painted white. These areas are white on the drawings because the council do not yet know what colour they will be painted – they haven’t said they won’t be white, they could be any colour and what is exhibited in the display cases could be anything, displayed in any style and signage could be any colour, any size, any style. Everything could still be changed apart from the architectural structure of this part of the building and the attached fittings.

The Council have said:
“We would like to reassure those who are concerned that this redevelopment will respond sensitively to the Museum’s 19th century character, preserving the significant Victorian fabric and fittings in the Victorian Natural History Gallery, whilst also delivering the changes and interpretation of the space needed for a modern museum.”  Ipswich Star, 29 June

Your thoughts on this are so important at this stage, to let the council and the museum know what we, the community, really want to see in our museum. Please write directly to the council and the museum with your concerns and continue to support and share this petition, to help to retain the special ambience and atmosphere of this wonderful room and collection, that we all love, and to retain its historical importance by not modernising the Victorian Natural History Gallery.

Please see this statement by Connor McNeill from the Victorian Society, which reflects our concerns. Only maintaining the grade II* listed heritage features will not preserve the museum as we know it.

‘Character can be difficult to define, and goes beyond the structure and fittings that can be protected through its designation as a listed building. The preservation of freestanding furniture and collections is not regulated by listed-building consent and we could only persuade these to be retained where they contribute to the architectural value of a building.We are not officially consulted on this and the cases where we would comment would be limited.’ Conor McNeill in Country Life Magazine, July 2022

The Ogilvie Bird Gallery has no listed status and no protection from the Victorian Society and the entire bird gallery, apart from the installed diorama Bass Rock, is also due to be removed from the museum.