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Public access to Wigan and Leigh’s key heritage sites will increase in
the New Year.
The History Shop in Wigan, together with Leigh Local History and Leigh
Archives, will increase their opening hours significantly from Monday
28th January 2008.
The History Shop’s new opening hours will increase from 21 hours to 27
hours per week:
Monday 10am to 4pm
Tuesday 10am to 4pm
Wednesday closed
Thursday 10am to 4pm
Friday 10am to 4pm
Saturday 10am to 1pm
Leigh Local History at the Turnpike Centre Leigh will continue to open
on Mondays and Thursdays but will now also be available on alternate
Saturdays. In addition, a new Family History helpdesk provided by
volunteers from Leigh Family History Society will be open on Monday
afternoons from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.
Leigh Archives at Leigh Town Hall will re-instate the appointment system
it previously operated on three days per week – Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday.
Opening hours at these services were reduced in April 2007 to allow
heritage services staff to work on a variety of key projects. All have
made significant progress:
• a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund has secured a
£500,000 grant towards the £1.3m investment to improve facilities at The
History Shop;
• new heritage based learning activities have been introduced through
schools, community groups and for families and adults with special
needs;
• work has progressed well in the exhaustive project to assess Wigan
Leisure and Culture Trust’s collection of 25,000 heritage items;
• a new ‘Curating in the Community’ project was launched in September
involving four community groups and will be rolled across the borough in
2008.
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust’s Heritage Services Manager Carole
Tyldesley said: “We are pleased that we are now able to significantly
increase our opening hours at these popular sites. The hard work of
staff and volunteers has ensured that the number of people who have
accessed services at The History Shop and in Leigh have not dropped
significantly in comparison with 2006. However, we feel it was important
to increase our hours wherever possible going into next year.
“Many of the projects that staff have been developing have made huge
advancements and will help us allow access to heritage to all sections
of the community. There is still a great deal of work to be carried out
to ensure that these projects are completed successfully but we believe
they will be of benefit to the people of Wigan Borough for many years to
come.”
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust’s ten year vision for Heritage Services
is: “To engage people in their own and Wigan’s heritage through creative
management and use of archives, collections and heritage resources.”
The long term objectives to improve the quality of Heritage Services
across Wigan Borough include:
• the development of the Wigan Pier Quarter's Arts and Heritage Learning
Centre;
• broadening access to the heritage collection at The History Shop;
Leigh Archives at Leigh Town Hall and Leigh Local History at the
Turnpike Centre, Leigh;
• ensuring that learning is at the centre of the service through
exhibitions, activities and outreach work;
• providing support to all groups who wish to learn more about their own
heritage.
For further information about the new opening hours contact Philip
Butler, Visitor Services Manager, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust on
01942 827594 or visit
www.wlct.org/heritage.
-ends-
NOTES TO EDITORS: For further information on this press release please
contact Chris Dunbar, Media and Public Relations Manager, on 01942
486937 or at
c.dunbar@wlct.org
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust: Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust is a
charitable trust working on behalf of Wigan Council to manage and
support leisure and cultural facilities, initiatives and events for over
300,000 residents in the Wigan Borough. See
www.wlct.org
Getting Wigan Active: Getting Wigan Active is Wigan Leisure and Culture
Trust’s vision to help people across the Wigan Borough to become more
physically, mentally and creatively active. It also aims to increase
community activity and to encourage good citizenship.
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