Exeter’s award-winning museum – home to the iconic Gerald the Giraffe – has been handed a lifeline.
Members of the city council voted overwhelmingly to pledge £260,000 towards urgent repairs at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) where Gerald has been pulling in the crowds for more than 100 years.
They heard that it would have to be shut down if its remaining boiler failed. The other one has already packed up.
The hope is that the council’s ‘match funding’ pledge will be the catalyst for Arts Council England to hand over £2.4million for the repairs.
Cllr Zoe Hughes (Ind, Pennsylvania) told colleagues: “The museum is the best thing we’ve got in Exeter, and ‘flagship’ is exactly the way to describe it.
“We’ve got one shot at this application and we have to take it. I don’t see how we can leave this incredible resource unfunded. It is our duty as custodians of this city.”
There are also hopes that the decking on the museum’s Roman Wall Bridge could be replaced as part of the repair project. The bridge, which offers views of the city’s ancient defences, has been closed for eight years as a result of the deterioration of the decking.
A report to the meeting said: “One boiler has already failed, and the remaining boiler and chilled water systems are operating within failure periods, creating a significant risk to the continued operation of the museum.
“Failure of either system could result in the closure of RAMM and place nationally significant collections at risk.”
Councillors also voted to set aside another £665,000 to replace the remaining boiler and chilled water system if the funding bid fails, or if they break down before a decision on the funding is made.
The city council’s strategic director for place Ian Collinson said the museum was ‘running on one cylinder’ and its systems could fail at any time.
“It is a major attraction for our city and a major resource for our residents,” he added.
Cllr Lucy Findlay (Lab, Alphington) said the RAMM was part of Exeter’s identity and went on: “Protecting our heritage should not be regarded as an optional extra, but a core responsibility.”
There were questions over whether a replacement boiler would align with the council’s drive towards zero carbon emissions, but members were urged to be ‘pragmatic’ over the urgent repair.
The RAMM, in Queen Street, first opened in 1869 and has 16 galleries spanning zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and world archaeology and geology.
The five metre-tall Gerald the Giraffe has been at the museum since 1920, having been shot by a big game hunter near Mount Kilimanjaro in 1901. He was skinned, dried and cured on the spot, then taken in pieces by train to Mombasa and on by ship to London to be reassembled and stuffed.
He was originally known as George in a tribute to King George V, but was renamed by a former museum director who was not so fond of the Royal Family.
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