Many of your readers will be aware that the funding and management of the William Morris Gallery have been issues of angry contention over the last couple of years – budgets have been slashed, then increased, long-serving staff have been forced out of their posts, then new staff appointed and it has even been suggested at one point that the world-famous collection should leave the borough.

In this climate of instability a group of local people got together to work out a future for the gallery that would free it from the uncertainties of public funding, and relieve the council of the unfair burden of funding a world-famous collection single-handed.

The conclusion they came to was to reconstitute the gallery as an independent trust: this would take the budget out of the political arena, and attract funding from sources which cannot be accessed under the present regime. The gallery would still be free to visit, and still be owned by the council, but as outside sources of funding increased, the council’s contribution would reduce. William Morris’ ideas and designs are known throughout the world, and the capacity to generate income from this by means of sales and education is enormous, and largely untapped.

To hear more about this proposal, and to contribute your own ideas and suggestions, please come to a public meeting next Wednesday June 10, at Harmony Hall in Truro road, off the High St, at 7.45pm.

Martin Duncan-Jones,

for William Morris Independent Trust Group.