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Swindon – A New Centre for the BPMA

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On 16 September 2008, the BPMA’s Board of Trustees chose the former Chain Testing Works at the Churchward Village site in Swindon, Wiltshire, as the intended site of BPMA’s New Centre. This was the culmination of a detailed examination of options and potential sites (of which over 20 were visited) for the BPMA’s plan to provide a new facility for its archive and to restore full physical access to its museum collection.

What to expect?

Swindon 1Swindon 2Swindon 5The BPMA’s New Centre promises many exciting features for researchers and visitors both old and new. It will be a combined museum and archive, offering the best in access to all the wonderful material the BPMA has to offer.

The Royal Mail Archive will have its home at Swindon, with state of the art storage facilities and a superb public Search Room for researchers. Our new Search Room will be designed to the highest possible standard, providing the most up-to-date equipment but also continuing BPMA’s excellent face-to-face user service. We hope these new facilities will meet the needs of our existing users and encourage new users.

The BPMA’s New Centre will have space to exhibit our Museum Collection, opening up this part of our holdings fully for the first time since the National Postal Museum closed in 1998. To help us provide an exciting and enticing museum that meets our visitor needs we are currently working on an Audience Development Plan with Jura Consultants and some of our Newsletter readers have already contributed to this.

There will be areas for exhibiting from our philatelic and wider holdings and for temporary exhibitions. We would hope to produce interesting programmes for the local community of Swindon, as well as something appealing to visitors from far and wide.

We aim to offer facilities for events, meetings and school visits, a conservation studio, and to house partners on site as well. The idea would be to provide as much flexible space for those that need it, be it for Friends meetings, philatelic clubs or continuing the BPMA’s already proven success in offering first class educational provision - through its teachers packs and sessions linking into national curriculum themes such as citizenship, history of the 19th and 20th century and art and design.

The Building

Swindon 4The building offers 43,000 sq ft of ground floor space and there would be a possibly of further increasing the floor space by the use of mezzanine levels.

The building the BPMA would be looking at is currently a derelict site, Grade II Listed and described on the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ register as “a rare example of a railway chain testing house built in 1873”. The building is currently vacant. Some of the machinery in the floor inside is Grade II, as it is the last complete example in situ, and the BPMA would be keen to make a focal point of this.

Surrounding Area

Swindon 6Churchward is just outside the main centre of Swindon. It is home to the National Trust UK Headquarters, as well as the English Heritage National Monuments Record and STEAM. It also houses a McArthur Glen designer outlet village.

Funding

Swindon 3Work is now underway to secure the funding and support needed to make the New Centre a reality. A fundraising campaign may follow if the further planning shows the site to be viable. The BPMA is looking for grant support alongside corporate and individual support. 

We feel our architect’s ideas of what the BPMA’s new home could be are excellent and we hope these pictures encourage support for this project.

Of course, we aim to consult our key stakeholders and supporters every step of the way and all views are welcome.

Pictures (top to bottom): 1. Possible main Museum Gallery space; 2. Possible Pillar Box Gallery in former Chain Testing Pit; 3. Possible multi function room ; 4. Side view of entrance from semi-private courtyard; 5. View of entrance from main courtyard; 6. Entrance at night.

 

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