Anyone who’s grown up in Gloucester will probably have fond childhood memories of the museum formally known as the Gloucester Folk Museum.
Home to a Victorian classroom where groups of school children would dress in traditional clothing and hear one of their classmates ‘getting the cane’, an outing to the venue was a rite of passage for the county’s school children.
But now, the venue, currently known as Gloucester Life Museum, has an uncertain future, as it closes for important restoration work, without a clear plan for reopening.
On the museum’s Facebook page, a post explains that the work will address some ‘historical structural movement’ at the front of the museum, but until the work’s been carried out, it’s impossible know when the museum will reopen.
Discussions are also taking place to enable the Gloucester Life Museum’s two buildings to be run by Gloucester Historic Buildings Trust and Gloucester Civic Society as a heritage hub, if transfer of ownership is given by Gloucester City Council.
If the transfer goes ahead, the venue could become a venue for volunteer training, education and community outreach, and a space for lectures, exhibitions and displays, rather than a museum outlining the history of life in the city.
For more information call Gloucester City Council on (01452) 396396.
