The Museum on the Mound is unique.
Okay, I may be biased, but it’s not just my opinion. Ask any teacher who has brought pupils on a school visit.
Or speak to the children themselves – you’ll have difficulty shutting them up about their visit.
Alternatively, you could drop into the Museum itself and chat to some of the 50,000 people who visit the this Five-Star visitor attraction every year.
Since opening to the public in 2006, the Museum has established itself as a highly successful and popular venue. While showcasing the history of Bank of Scotland, and featuring wonderful treasures from its collections, the focus of the Museum is money.
Visitors discover how money is made, circulated, handled, spent, saved and ultimately destroyed. There’s even a display case with a million pounds in genuine Bank of Scotland £20 notes.
But it’s the Museum’s education service that deserves special mention. Devised by museum professionals in partnership with Education Scotland, these hands-on activities fully support Curriculum for Excellence. They have proved hugely popular, and feedback from teachers and pupils alike is excellent. With around 150 visits a year, some 4,000 pupils participate directly in the money-themed workshops. The service has plugged a gap in the provision of financial education in Scotland, and is widely recognised as an exemplar of best practice.
All of which reflects extremely well on Lloyds Banking Group and Bank of Scotland. It also generates a great deal of good will in what are undoubtedly difficult times for banks. And it certainly supports the Group’s commitment to growing local communities, as part of its Helping Britain Prosper programme.
So, why then is Lloyds closing the Museum? I wish I knew.
Could it be that short-term, short-sighted cost-cutting is putting this valuable resource at risk? Or, is the museum seen as peripheral and irrelevant to the Group, based as it is in Edinburgh rather than London? Ironically, Lloyds’ CEO is Chairman of the Wallace Collection in London, and the Group provides ‘generous’ and ongoing financial support to that institution.
Perhaps it is simply the case that those making this decision have been ill-advised, or are unaware of the unique nature and value of the Museum. This seems the most likely explanation, since it is difficult to comprehend how or why the Group would otherwise contemplate such a move.
As the person who created and developed the Museum for many years, I would implore Antonio Horta-Osorio to reconsider. If this closure goes ahead, Edinburgh, Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group will be the poorer.
Helen Redmond-Cooper is the former Head of Lloyds Banking Group Archives & Museums
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