Photo call at Porthcurno Telegraph Museum

Look out for us in The Cornishman and Western Morning News later on this week! We’ll post the clippings here, as well as on the website: http://www.porthcurno.org.uk

More ‘Developing for the Future’ news in PK News Special Edition

Following the fantastic anouncement of £1.56 million funding from Heritage Lottery Fund and the DCMS/Wolfson Museum & Galleries Improvement fund, the next issue of PK News will be a very special edition, officially marking the start of our capital development project, Developing for the Future.

The next issue, our 50th, is due out in March and will include a special update on plans, progress and fundraising.

PK News is the exclusive quarterly magazine for Friends of Porthcurno Telegraph Museum. The magazine is packed with news, articles, photographs and interviews with a number of regular features from the Museum and guest contributors. To receive a copy delivered direct to your door, subscribe online via our website: http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/page.php?id=40

Heritage Lottery Fund awards £1.44 million for ‘Developing for the Future’

We are delighted to announce that an award of £1.44 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £125,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund brings us significantly closer to the £2.68 million needed to secure the future of a unique piece of Britain’s communications heritage.

About the project
‘Developing for the Future’ is our bold capital development project to transform the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, ensuring world-class facilities for world-class heritage. A dynamic new Learning Centre will provide space for formal and informal learning as well as community-led activities. The new Introductory Gallery will help with visitor orientation, and additional gallery spaces will provide room for new permanent and temporary exhibitions and events. A state-of-the-art archive facility will house the historic collection; identified as being of global significance and interest. Improved visitor facilities and a cafe will provide additional revenue streams to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the Museum.

The fundraising continues!
This latest news brings us significantly closer to our fundraising target, but there is still much work to do. A further £395,000 is needed within the next 2 years. We hope that our friends, supporters, communities and anyone passionate about British heritage will support us in this final push. We are extremely grateful to all those organisations and individuals who have already donated, including Heritage Lottery Fund, DCMS/Wolfson Fund, Cornwall Council, the Clore Duffield Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Edith Murphy Foundation, The Headley Trust and a number of private individual donors who are listed on our website: http://www.porthcurno.org.uk. We are also extremely grateful for the ongoing support we receive from Cable & Wireless Communications and Cable & Wireless Worldwide. You can make a donation by cheque or online; see our website for full details:http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/page.php?id=237

From ideas to reality… follow us on the journey
We have launched a special ‘Developing for the Future’ e-newsletter which gives you a quarterly update on the progress of the development project. To ensure you receive news of our progress, please subscribe online now: www.porthcurno.org.uk

“An internationally significant museum”
Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, commented on the project;
“Porthcurno Telegraph Museum is the unassuming home to what was once the centre of Britain’s technological development and the site that linked Britain to its Empire through thousands of miles of underwater cable. The Heritage Lottery Fund’s investment will bring alive the story of this internationally significant museum, the people that worked there and the revolutionary work that took place.”

Thank you for your support. I hope you continue to follow our progress through this next exciting chapter.

Libby Buckley – Director
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum

DCMS/Wolfson Fund £125,000 award

We are delighted to announce that our capital project, Developing for the Future, has received an award of £125,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Museum & Galleries Improvement Fund. The funds help to support our bold plans to develop the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum; once home to the world’s largest telegraph cable station and a a vital hub of international communications for over 100 years.

Development Project Manager, Henrietta Boex, commented;

“We are extremely proud of our beautiful Edwardian buildings, but they were built to accommodate a busy cable station, not a buzzing museum, which means they don’t work as well as they could for our growing number of visitors. By sensitively redeveloping them we will not only be able to accommodate more visitors, but to make visiting even more enjoyable, even more fun. It is about making the most of the wonderful assets we have and coaxing them gently into the 21st century.”