Urgent, please sign this.

[NutLoose]

I don’t like to ask, but this is downright wrong. Please read the post.

LINK TO SIGN.

https://www.change.org/p/save-cornwall-aviation-heritage-centre/u/31470641?cs_tk=AqWaQkPsLAUcBHEEN2QAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvJG0GQNts xpDTmF9cBMbNLI%3D&utm_campaign=bc2cc522940447df8b322266d81b954a&utm_content=initial_v0_6_0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

​​​​​​​ 5 APR 2023 —

The Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre has received a devastating blow to its exciting plans to relocate to a new site. Cornwall Council insists that the museum must vacate its current premises immediately, even though the new site will not be ready for at least 12 to 18 months. This means that the museum’s plans to relocate are in tatters.

And immediately means immediately – on 4th April the Council formally advised CAHC it must clear the entire site and move thousands of valuable and vulnerable heritage exhibits by Tuesday 11/4/23 otherwise the Council’s agent will ‘make arrangements for them to be disposed of’.

The museum was sure that they had fixed the threat to their future when local land-owner and businessman Rundle Weldhen offered a new site alongside the airport and entrepreneur philanthropist Mark Lancaster (SDL Ltd/SDL Foundation) pledged £1million for the relocation project.

CAHC and Mark Lancaster were in negotiations to remain at the current premises and trade until December 2023 to raise additional funds and prepare the new site for the relocation project but, as of 24/3/23 this request was flatly refused - even though the airport and Council have not published any plans for the existing premises once they have been vacated by CAHC.

Despite publicly stating that they would support the museum if it presented a credible and deliverable proposal to relocate, Cornwall Council has insisted that CAHC vacate its current premises immediately.

The airport has agreed to allow some space on the old disused runway to temporarily store some of the historic aircraft whilst they are prepared for transport or scrapping, and the Council had scheduled a meeting for the 13th April to discuss storage options for the more vulnerable indoor aircraft and heritage exhibits, some of which need to be protected while arrangements are put in place to return them to their RAF, Navy and private owners. This meeting now appears to have been unilaterally abandoned, without any advice from the Council.

Museum founder and director Richard Spencer-Breeze said ‘Clearing the site by the 11th March, over the Easter weekend is completely impossible. We only received notification that Mark Lancaster’s proposal for CAHC to trade until December had been refused 10 days ago and we immediately started the process of clearing the museum from the site, but this deadline is ridiculous. We’ve fought for so long, but we can’t go on like this any longer. This Council seems committed to seeing this museum close forever.

We found a new site after they turned down all of our previous proposals without even discussing them, we raised £1million, we received the unequivocal support of every major education body in the County, we offered the once in a lifetime chance for Cornwall to have a unique, all-year, state-of-the-art aerospace attraction and education hub. All they had to do was let us stay where we are for another 8 to 12 months. But no, they won’t even let us relocate in realistic fashion, they would rather see this one-of-a-kind, award-winning business disappear. It’s utterly disgraceful.’

The online petition to save the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre has attracted more than 40,000 signatures and thousands of heartfelt messages of outrage and support. WE THANK EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.

*Please note - DO NOT donate on Change.Org. We DO NOT receive these funds. We will launch a separate funding campaign to help us relocate and protect our precious aircraft collection shortly.



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https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/bad-news-cornwall-aviation-update

[SATCOS WHIPPING BOY]

Done.

[ExAscoteer2]

Signed

[Finningley Boy]

Signed,

What's the council's reason for insisting on being unreasonable?

FB

[DaveReidUK]

What's the council's reason for insisting on being unreasonable?

Long thread with a rather different account of how things have got to this stage, here:

PPRuNe: CAHC Closure - More Ac Losses? (https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/648645-cahc-closure-more-ac-losses.html)

[cliver029]

Nutty
I will sign but.....
I have been following this on the beeb Cornwall site for a long time and to be fair he was told eighteen months ago that he would not get a renewal so it's not quite that much of a surprise.
wether this came about because the council saw an opportunity for the site with Virgin nearby I cannot say but on one hand he is trying to protect the history associated with the aircraft on site versus what the council saw as a purely business transaction.

[Asturias56]

no-one pays any attention to petitions these days

[Cornish Jack]

Where can I find the full text of the reply by your local MP to your letter/s of complaint ? ... you did lobby him/her, didn't you ?

[Martin the Martian]

If anyone is responsible for the situation CAHC is in, it is Richard Spencer-Breeze. He has consistently stuck his head in the sand, despite being told when the museum opened that he would not get a renewal beyond the six years of the lease. The Council granted him a further year, and then another six months to vacate the site, and instead of making arrangements to store the airframes he has blamed everyone else, badmouthed the Council -his landlord- and whipped up a storm of vitriole across as much social media as he can while presenting himself as the victim. During the poeriod of the six year lease he built his empire, gathering as many aircraft as possible -including those such as the VC10 and One-Eleven- and even when it came to the one year extension all he could talk about was getting a Nimrod. He has had plenty of time to find a permanent home, as well as getting the museum accredited and creating a charitable trust to run it. He has done none of those things. And now the chickens have come home to roost.

[SASless]

Why the six year limit?

Why would a delay to December 23 impose an impossible burden upon the Council?

WHO is going to benefit from the eviction of the current priemises?

Should we do a follow the money exercise and determine the motive of the Council to see how many Plain Brown Envelopes are involved?

If the Council is remaining silent about why the deadline.....perhaps that alone should raise questions about its intent.

Could it be there are failures on BOTH sides of this that should be acknowledged and a final delay be allowed and this time even the public will understand the true situation?

The key issue is to find a way to preserve the collection rather than finger pointing about how the situation got to where it is.

Why is a final eight month delay crucial to the Council's unpublicized plans.....where they're Public Hearings on this where the Council detailed the purpose for the new use of the land and premises currently used by the Museum?

[Asturias56]

They're had 18 months - the Council have another tenant waiting - and they've already had a major extension. See Martin's post. No plan B, just tryingto bounce the Council into another extension.

Reading between the lines the Museum seems to have wanted "support" from the Council to help them finance a move - this was never going to happen.

"The Centre has had since October 2021 to finalise their plans to leave the site. In order to assist the centre, the Council extended their lease by a further 12 months in 2022, to the end of March 2023, for that purpose."

[Out Of Trim]

Signed and tweeted! :confused::ugh:

[Jhieminga]

During the poeriod of the six year lease he built his empire, gathering as many aircraft as possible -including those such as the VC10 and One-Eleven- and even when it came to the one year extension all he could talk about was getting a Nimrod.
The CAHC has indeed been around for some six years (a bit more actually), but don't forget that it was the Classic Air Force (run by Mike Collett) who set up the collection at Newquay, including the VC10 and One-Eleven, both of which arrived before the CAHC was even set up. CAHC was launched to save this collection and to establish a more permanent museum in Cornwall. When they took over the collection in 2015, they could only get a lease for a limited time. So yes, they were aware of the looming deadline but they have also presented a number of plans to keep the museum in Cornwall, many of which have been ignored by the council.

But discounting all the history, the facts are that we have an established and running museum with a large collection, surely the council understands that you cannot throw them out within a week? There were meetings planned for the 13th to discuss storing parts of the museum collection temporarily, all of a sudden they need to be out by the 11th... and this is the same council they're talking to. That's the bit that's puzzling if you ask me.

[Asturias56]

If you look at the Councils own website you'll see they clearly said the lease was up and it wouldn't be renewed - and that was 6 months ago.

I get the impression the Council felt they are being strung along and have been for over 18 months.

[Martin the Martian]

The CAHC has indeed been around for some six years (a bit more actually), but don't forget that it was the Classic Air Force (run by Mike Collett) who set up the collection at Newquay, including the VC10 and One-Eleven, both of which arrived before the CAHC was even set up. CAHC was launched to save this collection and to establish a more permanent museum in Cornwall. When they took over the collection in 2015, they could only get a lease for a limited time. So yes, they were aware of the looming deadline but they have also presented a number of plans to keep the museum in Cornwall, many of which have been ignored by the council.

But discounting all the history, the facts are that we have an established and running museum with a large collection, surely the council understands that you cannot throw them out within a week? There were meetings planned for the 13th to discuss storing parts of the museum collection temporarily, all of a sudden they need to be out by the 11th... and this is the same council they're talking to. That's the bit that's puzzling if you ask me.

They've had more than a week, and you know that as you've made multiple postings on the other thread.

[Mike51]

It is not an accredited museum, it is not a Trust, it is not a registered charity. It is structured as a profit-making commercial venture and the council have treated it as such. They have been transparent with their dealings with the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre, making it clear that the lease would not be renewed, and even granting an extension. A shame for the airframes that will not survive, but the Centre’s owners have only themselves to blame I’m afraid.

[Finningley Boy]

I do recall last year that CAHC had their marching orders then, however, there was a plot of land nearby, just over the road for them to tow their wears to. The reason given was to make room for the Virgin Space Port expansion. To say the least, that's had a sever knock on the head, therefore, what do Restormel Council plan to do now? Is the Space Port still on? By the by, does anyone else know the story behind the VC-10 and its trip from Delhi some years back!?!?!?!?:)

FB

[Lima Juliet]

The thing is, the Council as a public body and one that is elected by consent needs to be the adult in all of this. To me, they could have dealt with this far better in so many ways Martin the Martian. I know that social media and public opinion has been used against them, but really the Council’s unreasonable behaviour in the first place has brought this upon themselves as I am sure that CAHC wanted to deal with this in an adult and transparent manner. What is needed now is that grown up discussion of - look CAHC there is no chance of you staying, what are your plans and when do you expect to move on. If CAHC cannot offer a reasonable answer to that then they need to give reasonable notice, not just a matter of weeks. Acting like a “bully boy” authority, like they do for other Kernow matters, does them no favours whatsoever and they need to be totally transparent as a public body with their communications with CAHC to win over the very many in the County that believe that CAHC have been badly treated - “they work for you” - ring any bells? Not in Kernow County it doesn’t!

[Jhieminga]

They've had more than a week, and you know that as you've made multiple postings on the other thread.
True, and indeed I know that. But the council has stated on various occasions that they would support a move, and now that there is a location and the funds to move there, the council pulls this stunt. CAHC got a lead on this new location in December, they've been working on the funds since then. It's not as if they have done nothing but it took time to get to this stage and they need a bit more time to actually move everything. Surely that's not an unreasonable request?

[air pig]

Is Kernow Council coming up for election in May??

[Jhieminga]

By the by, does anyone else know the story behind the VC-10 and its trip from Delhi some years back!?!?!?!?:)
Do tell... but feel free to put it in a message or e-mail to me if it pulls the thread too far off the rails.

[Martin the Martian]

The Council has been very reasonable about this. It has not used bully boy tactics and, if anything, has given a lot more in terms of time than it needed to. Richard Spencer-Breeze has not been at all adult and reasoned; he has attempted to try the Council in the court of public opinion -quite successfully if half the comments on this thread are anything to go by - given only his own, very selective, side of the matter, and if anything has acted like a child having a tantrum when told it is time for bed. And all of it could have been avoided if he had used the six years' grace he had been given to find a permanent home for the collection when he was well aware that this would happen.

I don't want to see CAHC closed. Far from it. But do not go blaming the Council for a situation that has been created by the idiocy of the owner.

[ExAscoteer2]

Restormal Council were a bunch of See You Next Thursdays 30+ years ago. It seem nothing has changed.

They should never have been allowed to get their hands on Treblezue / St Mawgan in the first place.

[tdracer]

Regardless of who's to blame, it would be a real tragedy if that collection is lost or badly damaged/degraded because of this disagreement.
It's time for all parties involved to sit down and come up with a workable plan to keep this aircraft collection properly preserved.

[Finningley Boy]

Restormal Council were a bunch of See You Next Thursdays 30+ years ago. It seem nothing has changed.

They should never have been allowed to get their hands on Treblezue / St Mawgan in the first place.
For all the difference it made, they actively opposed the basing of F-35s there. From what I could gather first hand at the time, it wasn't a popular move on their part.

Jhieminga,

Just quickly, the VC-10 at CAHC was at Delhi. The crew enjoyed some of the local traditional cuisine the night before flying back to Brize Norton. I may have some of the facts of the story a little mixed as to who did what, however, on route over the Indian Ocean next day, the old Gandhi's revenge launched an attack. Either the skipper or the first officer, got up to pay a visit, and as best as I can recall, Beagle would be able to confirm or deny this, as the chap got up, he flicked the auto pilot switch, apparently positioned overhead, crucially, so I was told, the switch is non-specific. What seems odd is he didn't tell anyone else for some reason. But while he was away, the other jockey couldn't hold on any longer and set off as well, with greater justification, he flicked the auto-pilot, not knowing he was switching off instead of on. By the time it dawned what was going on, the aircraft had started a descent from about FL 390 down passed 10,000'. The aircraft was recovered, naturally. However, another unbelievable element is no one was in communication with any long range air traffic agency, who were trying to contact the crew. The incident couldn't be ignored, I think there was a board of inquiry, but I'm not sure if any Court Martials arose. It's a bit of an unlikely tale, but that's as best as I can recall being told.;)

FB

[ExAscoteer2]

For all the difference it made, they actively opposed the basing of F-35s there.

We should never have binned 42(TB)Sqn.

With the loss of 42 Sqn and the reduction in English China Clays that part of Corwall got feckered BIG TIME.

But rather than invest, Restormal went for mahoosive hikes in Council Tax.

Indeed they were pro the Council Tax. My neighbours tax doubled purely based upon residency.

I have no time for those twats and am glad I don't live there any more.

[[email protected]]

It will be interesting to see if things change now Virgin won't be operating there any more. The council might realise they need income.

[Martin the Martian]

Restormel District Council disappeared in April 2009, along with the five other district authorities, when Cornwall went down the unitary path. F-35s, Newquay Airport, Virgin Galactic or CAHC has got absolutely nothing to do with that organisation.

[BEagle]

I've never heard of that so-called Delhi incident.

It is possible that a pilot leaving his seat might, if very clumsy, have pressed the autopilot cut out switch on the control column. But that would have been obvious to the entire crew.

There were no overhead autopilot controls on the overhead panel, all were on the centre console.

It is highly unlikely that neither the co-pilot, air engineer nor navigator noticed that the autopilot had been disconnected.

The story sounds like total nonsense to me.

[Finningley Boy]

I've never heard of that so-called Delhi incident.

It is possible that a pilot leaving his seat might, if very clumsy, have pressed the autopilot cut out switch on the control column. But that would have been obvious to the entire crew.

There were no overhead autopilot controls on the overhead panel, all were on the centre console.

It is highly unlikely that neither the co-pilot, air engineer nor navigator noticed that the autopilot had been disconnected.

The story sounds like total nonsense to me.
I thought it might be, it was told to me by one of the Tour Guide's showing myself and a bunch of emmets around the VC-10 at CAHC, the thing is, I was back a year or two later, and the tour guide never mentioned it, so I chipped in and relayed the story as best as I could remember. I did accept the improbability of the situation, nevertheless, everyone including the tour guide were impressed.

FB

[Finningley Boy]

Restormel District Council disappeared in April 2009, along with the five other district authorities, when Cornwall went down the unitary path. F-35s, Newquay Airport, Virgin Galactic or CAHC has got absolutely nothing to do with that organisation.
The period I'm referring to went back to before the decision to base F-35s at Lossiemouth when there were several airfields contending to be the primary F-35 base.

FB

[nimboboy]

Same officers, they who actually run the Council, the elected councillors get very little say in anything really, same as any form of government really. Unelected nobodies with grand ideas, I introduce Cornwall council.

[Asturias56]

Have you ever met ELECTED Councillors?

Most of them have trouble being able to read or write

Someone on this thread (or the other) suggested they were all taking brown envelopes

[Jhieminga]

I thought it might be, it was told to me by one of the Tour Guide's showing myself and a bunch of emmets around the VC-10 at CAHC, the thing is, I was back a year or two later, and the tour guide never mentioned it, so I chipped in and relayed the story as best as I could remember. I did accept the improbability of the situation, nevertheless, everyone including the tour guide were impressed.

I will have to agree with BEagle, the autopilot part of it sounds illogical. I wonder though if this story has been mistranslated and/or misremembered: https://www.vc10.net/History/incidents_and_accidents.html#5y-ada_fuelstarvation The airframe in Newquay used to fly for East African Airways as 5Y-ADA before it became a RAF VC10 K3 tanker as ZA148.

[MightyGem]

Signed and passed on.

[longer ron]

I thought it might be, it was told to me by one of the Tour Guide's showing myself and a bunch of emmets around the VC-10 at CAHC, the thing is, I was back a year or two later, and the tour guide never mentioned it, so I chipped in and relayed the story as best as I could remember. I did accept the improbability of the situation, nevertheless, everyone including the tour guide were impressed.

FB
We really enjoyed our visit to CAHC last summer but my impression of most of the staff was well meaning amateurs who knew very little about aircraft,our VC10 guide was telling us some highly improbable stuff as we went round but we just enjoyed the day for what it was - a really enjoyable museum in a lovely location,also just nice to visit part of a lovely old airfield after a gap of 40+ years for me :)

[POBJOY]

The Council has been very reasonable about this. It has not used bully boy tactics and, if anything, has given a lot more in terms of time than it needed to. Richard Spencer-Breeze has not been at all adult and reasoned; he has attempted to try the Council in the court of public opinion -quite successfully if half the comments on this thread are anything to go by- given only his own, very selective, side of the matter, and if anything has acted like a child having a tantrum when told it is time for bed. And all of it could have been avoided if he had used the six years' grace he had been given to find a permanent home for the collection when he was well aware that this would happen.

I don't want to see CAHC closed. Far from it. But do not go blaming the Council for a situation that has been created by the idiocy of the owner.

At last, another post that it a true picture of the issues, not based on the faceless social media rubbish that has been a constant factor in this situation.
CAHC is a PLC not a group led operation, and its 'leadership' seems to be unable to accept anything that resembles a true information flow or reality.
In fact the main problem is the CAHC has no leadership.

[t211]

Signed & Shared

[Finningley Boy]

I will have to agree with BEagle, the autopilot part of it sounds illogical. I wonder though if this story has been mistranslated and/or misremembered: https://www.vc10.net/History/incidents_and_accidents.html#5y-ada_fuelstarvation The airframe in Newquay used to fly for East African Airways as 5Y-ADA before it became a RAF VC10 K3 tanker as ZA148.
I think this is it, the story we got though was shall we say, simplified and a little coloured in as well, perhaps for time and effect.

FB

PS Its the same aircraft as the one in Newquay which the tour guide also claimed.

[Ric Breeze]

Being a bit rubbish at social media, I've only just stumbled across this thread/conversation - probably a good thing really. For anyone who has or had any interest in the unfortunate events, I have some clarifications and corrections which may be useful -
1. CAHC was forbidden from setting up as a charity by the landlord (Newquay Airport/Cornwall Council). I will happily provide a copy of the original Lease Heads of Terms expressly excluding this in clause 17, as provided by the then Airport MD, Al Titterington. So it was set up as an LLC but always run expressly along non-profit principles, with the officers either taking no financial benefit at all or, in my case as I gave up my job to run the business on a daily basis, taking a minimal salary, £12k to 16k pa, much less than any other paid member of staff.

2. CAHC's lease was always renewable and from January 2019 we were in negotiations with the landlord over terms for a new 10 year lease to commence in July 2020. Negotiations lasted beyond the renewal date, leading to CAHC occupying its premises under a Tenancy at Will until terms were finally agreed in December 2020 and a deal for a further 10 years was struck. I am happy to provide a copy of the letter from the then CAL estates manager confirming agreement on the new lease and advising that the lease documents were being prepared for signature. AFTER we agreed the deal CAL then reneged on the most important part of the agreement, so we had to pull out.

3. We then asked, begged, pleaded for a meeting to find a solution and, after many months of simply ignoring our requests, the Council finally agreed to a meeting in October 2021 for the express purpose of reaching agreement on the new lease. In order that meaningful discussions could take place, the meeting was attended by Cllr David Harris (Dep. Ledr), Cllr. Anne Double, Cllr. John Fitter, the Trustees of the Cornwall Aerospace education Trust (yes, we had set up our own charity to run our education operation and take over the whole shebang in due course, once we got a new lease in place).

4. In the October '21 meeting the Council's representative without any warning at all dropped the bombshell that our lease would NOT be renewed, that it would be terminated as of the end of March 2021, but that we would have an additional 12 months to relocate. This was the first time we had any implication that our lease was not going to be renewed and was devastating news. Critically, Cllr. Harris, the deputy leader of Cornwall Council claimed to be completely surprised at this announcement and personally committed CC to assisting CAHC to find a suitable new site (having discussed at length the unique and challenging requirements) AND to assisting CAHC to meet the costs of relocation. Proposals for relocation sites were requested from us.

5. Within 4 weeks we had prepared preliminary proposals for relocation to between 6 and 9 alternative sights (some overlapped), together with conservative cost estimates. Please bare in mind that disassembly/transport/reassembly of a VC10 was costed at £400-500,000 by industry specialists, unless we could tow it directly to the new site, so we focused on sites within the scope of towing.

6. From November 2021 to September 2022 we distributed these proposals and costings to Council officers, Councillors and MPs and pleaded with Cornwall Council for an opportunity to discuss the proposals, so that we could learn which, if any they preferred, understand the shortcomings and concerns and discuss find a solution. All of our requests for a meeting were ignored. Eventually we were granted a meeting with the CAL MD and Glenn Caplin-Grey of the Council who used the meeting to blackmail us into signing an agreement to vacate by 31/3/23 (or they would lock the gates) and who then stated that they had not seen any of the relocation proposals from CAHC. So we provided hard copies of the proposals for their consideration, which they took away. We were then literally dismissed and 3 days later were told that none of our proposals were acceptable - no opportunity to discuss them was given. Laterly we received draft falsified minutes of the meeting which gave no true illustration of what we discussed - I am happy to provide a copy of those incorrect minutes, together with the accurate minutes prepared by ourselves and the full audio recording of the meeting which we prepared at the meeting, in full knowledge of all attendees.

7. In November 2022 Cllr. Louis Gardner meeting of the full Council stated that a) CAHC had never been led to believe that we could renew our lease and that b) he and his advisers had not seen any evidence that CAHC had been prevented from opening as a charity. This was significant because council representatives had stated several times that they could not support or assist CAHC because it was not a charity. However, some weeks before the Council meeting I had by email provided Cllr. Gardner with a copy of the Heads of Terms referenced in point 1. (above) and a copy of the letter from the Estates Manager referenced in point 2. (above), so these statements by him were clearly inaccurate and misleading. When I raised a formal conduct complaint regarding this misinformation by Cllr. Gardner, my complaints were rejected (by the Council's own regulator) due to grammatical/structural errors.

8. A solution at last! - In late November CAHC was offered the opportunity by Rundle Whelden to rent/buy land for a new site opposite the Cornwall air Ambulance Trust which was a great solution. We made a pre-application submission to the planning department which was successful (Cornwall Council waived the fee for this, £1,200 - this was the only financial assistance that CAHC received during this entire situation).

9. In January 2023 the SDL Foundation approached CAHC and, once we had made our plans fully available to them, met with their principles, visited the current operation and the new site and been through their due diligence procedures, offered CAHC £1m to assist with the relocation and development of the new site. These funds were to be introduced without any strings attached, which shows the faith that SDL had in the project and the management of our organisation.

10. The SDL Foundation then approached Glenn Caplin-Grey of Cornwall Council directly to prove the credibility of the structure and project and to help negotiate permission for CAHC to remain at the existing location and pay the full commercial rent until October 2023, by which time planning should have been completed and sufficient hard standing created at the new site to accept the VC10 and BAC1-11, so that the relocation project could be undertaken from November.

11. However, at the beginning of March '23 Cornwall Council summarily rejected any option for CAHC to remain on the original site beyond the end of March and gave CAHC just 11 days to vacate.

12. As of mid-april 2024 the original CAHC museum site remains completely empty, unoccupied and unused. Cornwall Council refuse to confirm whether they have received any rent from the site since CAHC left, even under a Freedom of Information request by the Cornish press.
It is hurtful to read that it is all my fault, that my head was in the sand and that I only had my own interests in mind. Foolish people who have no true knowledge or understanding of the events often make sweeping, damning statements on social media, careless of the damage that they do. From my perspective I was lucky enough to have the chance to be involved in creating a great and unique museum, one which had a tremendous future potential and one that I spent the 4 years fighting in every way I, and my colleagues, could think of to save and develop into the aviation heritage/education centre that this part of the UK so desperately needs. We put everything we could into this cause, worked tirelessly and continuously 24/7 under considerable stress, abandoning any normal form of home life, holidays, financial security and public reputation to fight a Council that seemed inexplicably determined not just to remove the museum from its current site, but to obstruct any realistic attempt to find a solution by which it could continue. Obviously, we failed, but at least we tried.

I will grant that we may have been naive, but only in that we dared to think we might succeed because what we were doing was right. To Martin, Pobjoy and anyone else who feels that I or we brought this upon ourselves, I am happy to answer any questions, provide supporting copies of correspondence and documentation or engage in dialogue to promote a better understanding of events - on one proviso. If I can prove that the points I have made are true and factual, that you will state, in all of the locations you have previously commented on this matter, that your previous comments were in error and that you now retract them. Given the comments you have made about me, I think that that is the least you could do.

Richard Spencer-Breeze