Visitor attendance
Looking at the year to date, we are slightly off budget. Outside of the holiday period, visitor attendance is lower than we would normally see, however we are seeing a greater use of the Unchained Pass and financially we are in a good position and ahead of where we expected to be.
Forging Ahead
Work continues towards having the Elephant & Castle Pub and new Visitor Welcome Centre open during the summer holidays. Along with Balfour Beatty, our Collections and Maintenance Teams are beginning the interior fit-out. The ornate Elephant and Castle statue has been hoisted into position and you are invited to register for the ‘Forging Ahead Tours – Behind the hoardings’.
In time, there will be new position contracts and additional work available because of the Forging Ahead development, this will be across both our Enterprise and our Historic Characters Teams.
Drift Mine
The survey is now complete for our Drift Mine. We are assessing the red flag issues and hope to reopen the Drift Mine later this year.
Arts Council England
We have applied again for funding and will find out in October whether we have been successful. On the back of the Government’s recent white paper, Levelling-Up, we have also sought extra funding to do more in our community, including schools.
Commonwealth Games
The Queen’s Baton Relay visited the Museum on Sunday 24 July. Read out more about the event.
On Thursday 4 August there will be road closures throughout the Black Country due to the Cycling Time Trial Course. The Museum will still be open and Managers will be talking to individuals about specifics of getting to work on that day.
Support to colleagues
Earlier in the year, I mentioned that we would review any support that we could offer with regards to the costs of living. We hope to assess this decision after the summer holidays income results.
Annual Report & Accounts
For those that are interested, we have published our Annual Report & Accounts, 31 December 2021. It is the most comprehensive analysis of how we are doing and will be available for staff and public viewing on our website shortly.
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