Two weeks into the cleanup, and our priority objects are safely offsite, community store rooms have been cleared out and we have filled a whole five skips of material (collection and otherwise) which was unsalvageable.
We are now undertaking arguably one of the biggest tasks which is emptying our two basement object stores of material that is vulnerable to the spike in humidity which we are now seeing. This is primarily organic material such as paper, textiles, wood and leather, for example. In order to keep track of this huge volume of material on the move, documentation is being done which will help us locate the right material when the time comes to bring it back onsite.
For us to do this we are having to clear storage space on the ground floor, another sizeable job! This is of course resulting in ongoing closure of the Museum as the only dry and sufficiently large space we have to decant to is the Museum ground floor (see left, featuring three of our dedicated volunteers!). Please bear with us while we undertake this work, we are hoping for the Museum ground and first floors to be open in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, take a look at our
Facebook
and
Twitter
posts from the past couple of weeks for more photos and information.
Lastly, thank you so so much to all those who have offered us help with cleaning, clearning, conservation, documentation, and advice and support, it is very much appreciated.