Hi everyone – I have just been on a fellow aviation website and was dismayed to see we could lose another aircraft museum if we are all not careful.
http://www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com/
The Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum enters 2007, its 30th year, in crisis. New landowners have raised the rent from £700 to £5000 per year. As a volunteer organisation this will sadly not be sustainable on a long term basis. However, the landowners have indicated that the Museum could buy the existing site for £130,000 with an option to buy an additional small piece of land for expansion, at a total cost of £400,000. The Museum has no option but to enter into a 3 year lease with the new landowners in order to give time to raise the capital through fund-raising and grants, to buy the site, which is a huge mountain to climb.
I mean there is putting the rent up and just being ……well I dont want to give my exact opnion. D+G are just starting out on expanding there ghostie and education capacity and it would be such a shame to lose the museum. They have a pay pal section – I know everyone is strapped for cash – so every little would help Im sure.
Thanks
From a fellow enthusiast down at the North East Aircraft Museum.
By: Lindy's Lad - 28th January 2008 at 21:45
The Museum Web site has a Newsletter that gives more up to date information.
If there is any problem with this post from either MODS or D&G, please just remove it. The following is an extract from D&G’s August 2007 Newsletter:
Business Development Project
The new lease has finally been agreed with our new landlords and has been signed by both parties. We are therefore now paying the
greatly increased new rental (£5,000+VAT) plus an annual service charge of around £1,500+VAT. As previously reported, the local council
have granted us £8,000 in order to engage consultants to provide us with an “Options Appraisal” and a Business Plan. We invited tenders
from a number of consultants and four of them tendered. With help from the council Economic Development Adviser we selected the best
tender and have now appointed the consultants. They have now begun the preliminary work and are scheduled to meet with the Board of
Directors early in October. The Options Appraisal should provide us with the best option for the future of the museum after which a
business plan can be developed. By the spring we hope to be in a position to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund and other grant providers
for funding to purchase the museum. The Business Development Project is being progressed by Alan Lammin, Jym Francey, Jim
Richardson and Bob Ford who report monthly to the Board of Directors. Negotiations for the lease took some time and incurred substantial
legal fees. As mentioned in our last newsletter, we have a separate bank account for our “Fighting Fund” and anyone wishing to make a
donation can do so either via our website www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com using “PayPal” or by post to Jym Francey (DGAM
Treasurer) 2, Woodlands Cottages, Newbridge, Dumfries DG2 0HZ. We are very grateful to those who have already donated but we
anticipate further expenditure (not to mention the new rent!!) before we can make a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and it is by
no means certain that we will be able to secure all of the funding we need. It is very likely that we will need to find a proportion of the
money ourselves. We are of course organising fund raising efforts (the 2007 30th anniversary show was financially successful) and for
those living locally, the next fund raising effort will be a stall at the Terregles Village Hall Christmas Fair on Sunday 2nd December
from 2-4pm.
http://www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com/newsletter/autumn2007.pdf
Obviously it is all a work in progress, and ALL of us smaller museums struggle, but in this case, please give generously….:D
By: Robert Whitton - 28th January 2008 at 20:11
The Museum Web site has a Newsletter that gives more up to date information.
By: mjr - 28th January 2008 at 20:06
I think d&g have now found a resolution, I dont know the exact details, but understand they are out of danger now.
By: Lindy's Lad - 28th January 2008 at 19:29
Anyone from D&G care to comment in an obviously legally limited way?
By: Portagee - 28th January 2008 at 19:26
The Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum enters 2007, its 30th year, in crisis.
Please note the first line and its reference to 2007, this hasn’t been updated as yet for 2008, most likely due to the fact that DGAM’s “season” doesn’t begin until Easter/April.
By: Nashio966 - 28th January 2008 at 16:40
It would be nice if they called the three year rent a deposit against the capital amount as a little goodwill.
thats an excellent idea, i hope that this happens 🙂 it seems to be a rather nice museum, especially with the F-100
By: Peter - 28th January 2008 at 16:39
Moved this over to it’s own thread.
Peter
Moderator
By: David Burke - 28th January 2008 at 16:38
It would be nice if they called the three year rent a deposit against the capital amount as a little goodwill.
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January 28, 2008 at 4:17 pm