THE Friends of North Somerset Museum were very alarmed to read the report in last week's Weston Mercury about the proposed closure of the museum.

THE Friends of North Somerset Museum were very alarmed to read the report in last week's Weston Mercury about the proposed closure of the museum.

We have had a museum in the northern part of Somerset since 1862, and this has been a source of education and pleasure for generations of Somerset people.

Since the museum moved to its present site it has grown until it now houses artefacts from all over North Somerset, covering many millennia in time. Where are these artefacts to be housed when the museum closes? Will they still be available for research by students and local historians? Will curatorial staff still be employed to care for them? If not, residents of North Somerset will have to travel out of this area to find historical information and will be denied access to the local records and information they need.

And what of the future, as excavations and research continue in North Somerset, where will new artefacts and reports be housed? I believe the authority has an obligation to store such items for posterity.

School children too, where will they go? At present 120 school groups visit the museum each year as part of their national curriculum studies, and during school holidays re-enactment groups and other activities are held in the courtyard area for the enjoyment and education of young and old. Where are these to take place?

The friends number more than 140 members and many of these work as volunteers in the museum or enjoy the lectures and events that the Friends organise in the museum. Is this to cease? We hope not, our lovely museum is an integral part of North Somerset and a much-needed resource.

MRS HEATHER MORRISEY

Chair, Friends of North Somerset Museum

Burlington Street, Weston