Following the departure of its director of museums, Helen Thornton, Ripon Museum Trust has begun the search for her successor.

Ms Thornton, who was director for four covid-affected years, has left the heritage sector to take up the post of town clerk for Baildon in West Yorkshire.

The trust, which since 2020, has been awarded financial support totalling more than £500,000 from Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund said in a statement it was seeking a new director “to provide inspiring and collaborative leadership”.

It added the successful candidate would be “a transformational leader” with “proven management and leadership experience, that will enable Ripon Museum Trust to realise their potential to become a museum with a national profile”.

The new director will be involved in shaping the strategic direction and delivery of the The Workhouse, Prison & Police and Old Courthouse museums at a pivotal point in the trust’s 41-year history, amid a development phase bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Richard Taylor, chair of the board of trustees said:

“Ripon Museum Trust is a close-knit community with strong values of fairness, ambition, community, team-work and learning. We are really excited to be recruiting for this role and look forward to welcoming a new director of museums at this important part of our journey.”

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Ripon Museum Trust has secured three-year funding from Arts Council England worth more than £400,000.

The trust operates the Workhouse, Prison and Police Museum and Courthouse museums, which welcome around 30,000 people per year.

The grant means the trust will continue to be funded through the Arts Council’s national portfolio scheme. It will receive £142,576 each year for the years 2023-26.

The funding will help pay for jobs as well as a programme of community engagement, creative programming and improvements.

Last week Harrogate Theatre , which had received just over £140,000 a year from the national portfolio scheme since 2015, announced it had missed out on an award this time.

Richard Taylor, chair of the trust, said:

“This crucial grant funding allows us not only to continue to provide a range of inspiring experiences but to also look ahead to how we can find new and innovative ways to inspire and engage our visitors both digitally and in person.

“This is good news for Ripon and the wider community of North Yorkshire. It will help to raise the cultural profile of our city and everything it has to offer.”

Applications for funding were determined against criteria laid out in the Arts Council’s Let’s Create strategy, which requires organisations to demonstrate how the work they do will contribute to the principles of inclusivity and relevance, ambition and quality, dynamism, and environmental responsibility.

Trust director Helen Thornton said:

“It is hugely exciting to be part of Arts Council England’s next portfolio and to be able to respond to Let’s Create. It’s a vote of confidence that what we are doing here has real impact and potential to grow our cultural offer.

“We hope to be able to reach out to and work with new communities, strengthen and develop what we do for our local communities, our volunteers and the general visitor – to ensure they have a really creative and inspiring time in our museums”.

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With three linked heritage attractions that bring thousands of visitors a year to Ripon, the city’s museum trust is looking to the future by building on a picture of the past that has increasing relevance to today’s society.

Having celebrated its 40th anniversary last month, Ripon Museum Trust (RMT) continues to develop its activities through community engagement and a volunteer programme that enables the museums to create a living history experience.

With almost £100,000 of Heritage Lottery money, RMT is assembling the team of professionals required to draw up a bid, seeking further funding  that would enable it to open up parts of the Workhouse Museum, never before seen by visitors.

RMT director Helen Thornton told the Stray Ferret:

“If we are successful, we will be able to provide access to the women’s and men’s dormitory areas on the upper floors of the east and west wings of the master’s accommodation.

“Our plan also includes installation of a lift, that would increase accessibility for people in wheelchairs and families with young children.”

She added:

“We are keen to tell the full story of the lives of previous inmates, which has particular relevance to today and the financial difficulties that are faced by many.”

Echoes from the past

The current cost of living crisis, which is putting more families and individuals into poverty and reliance on charities, has echoes that go back to 1776, when the original Ripon Union Workhouse opened in Allhallowgate, prior to construction of the Victorian establishment on the site with its 1854 dateline set in stone.

The former hospital wing within the complex is home to Community House, a social enterprise which, among other vital services, provides food support through a foodbank to an ever-growing number of users.

Side by side, the buildings in the workhouse grounds exemplify the fact that history can and does repeat itself.

Some 246 years ago it opened its doors to men, women and children caught in the poverty trap and here in 2022, many families are facing the modern-day equivalent, through crippling debt, much of it caused by increasing gas and electricity charges.

RMT chair Richard Taylor at the Prison & Police Museum

A unique offer

Ripon Museum Trust has a unique offering, by virtue of the fact that the Workhouse is the most complete museum of its kind in the UK and the only one whose entire exhibit is dedicated to focusing on the lives and experiences of the destitute and downtrodden of former generations.

Through a trail that also takes in the Prison & Police and Courthouse museums, visitors can follow the journey from poorhouse to punishment cell as seen through the eyes of those whose impoverishment put their lives into a desperate downward spiral.

Richard Taylor, who has chaired the trust for 28 years, said:

“It’s a powerful story put into context through items that can be seen at the three museums.

“In liaison with the community and our volunteers, we have developed an exhibition, which runs until November 27, called Ripon Museums in 40 Objects.

“It  has been designed to provide an insight into the hard times faced by former citizens unfortunate enough to find themselves in any of these establishments.”

These children were able to find out what it was like to face a magistrate before the courthouse became a museum

The blue lamp outside the Prison & Police Museum is one object not included in the list, but has special relevance to Mr Taylor.

He said:

“The P&P as we call it, was the first museum operated by the trust and I was delighted when my suggestion of adding the lamp was taken up many years ago.

“It has acted as a kind of guiding light directing visitors to the building ever since.

“We are currently looking for people to join our board of trustees and would like to hear from anybody who feels they can play a part in helping the trust to plan for its next 40 years.”