Sponsored by
Oil giant backs museum project
Mark Branagan A £3m scheme to turn a seaside museum into a gateway to Yorkshire's dinosaur coast took a huge leap forward yesterday when oil giant Shell became the first major corporate sponsor.
The plan to transform Scarborough's Rotunda attraction by 2007 has already received 1.9m provisional funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
But to unlock the cash, Scarborough Museums Trust needs to raise the rest from the community, businesses, and other organisations.
Shell is pledging 300,000 to the project – but is also aiming to help develop the museum's Geology Now display, highlighting the cutting edge of the science.
Organisers regard such major corporate sponsorship as a coup, because museum services tend to appeal more to large public sector organisations than big business.
Shell Transport and Trading Chairman Lord Oxborough said yesterday the company's whole success was underpinned by an understanding of geology, a science in which Scarborough held a special place.
Speaking at the Rotunda yesterday Lord Oxborough, who is one of the country's leading geologists, described the project as "a far-sighted and very important step".
He added: "The Rotunda is part of our national heritage – one which had lapsed a bit and is not in the greatest repair. But it is important.
"Scarborough is very important to geology. The coastline is probably unique, one of the few places in the world where you can see a sequence of important events."
What was especially attractive was it contained rare examples of complete skeletons of Jurassic creatures.
He continued: "Something very odd means that the skeletons of animals which died here were not ripped apart by other animals as they were elsewhere in the country.
"That is something very special indeed and for that reason – and other geology – it is a very special place for students and palaeontologists."
The leading light of the fund-raising campaign, Lord Derwent, was particularly pleased that Shell saw the museum as a showcase for what was a developing science.
He said: "Shell conceive that a gallery named after them to show geology is not some dead science but part of the future.
"It will be a real partnership with the private sector which will be of great importance to geology worldwide."
Lord Derwent's family has strong links with William Smith, the father of English geology, who designed the museum to house the rocks, fossils, and papers from his collection.
Despite his standing as a geologist, Smith had a complex personal life and was virtually penniless when he ended up in Scarborough.
Lord Oxborough said that by giving Smith a job, Lord Derwent's family had not only "saved his bacon financially" but played a part in creating the museum Smith later helped establish in 1829.
Scarborough Council Leader Eileen Bosomworth said the scheme would not only help create a museum quarter but was one of the first steps in Scarborough's Urban Renaissance.
She added: "This is the first small piece in a very big jigsaw. The town is rich in liabilities – regenerating the creations of men long gone.
"I see the Rotunda as an icon for all our Renaissance projects which are desperately needed along the coast for our children and all those who follow."
mark.branagan@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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