The cost of having a personality

The Jersey Heritage Trust has been no stranger to the dilemmas posed by cash shortfalls. For many months – and in spite of a few false dawns – it has been suggested that one or more of the trust’s major attractions must close. Now, alas, the axe has fallen and Hamptonne, the Island’s excellent museum of country life, will be closed, except for special events.

It is easy to comprehend the trust’s position. Its funds will stretch only so far, so something had to give. That said, the word ‘heritage’ in the organisation’s title is highly significant. It indicates that the present difficulty in respect of what should stay open and what should close is about far more than pounds and pence.

If the wider picture is considered, it seems extraordinary that a prime tourist attraction must shut its doors at a time when we are eager to attract more visitors to boost the holiday sector. It also seems extraordinary that a site that is so redolent of this community’s past must be mothballed at a time when preservation of the Island’s special identity and the projection of its image to the outside world are of such great concern.

If there is a crumb of comfort to be found in the trust’s strategy, it lies in the fact that, for the moment, the Maritime Museum and the Occupation Tapestry Gallery will remain open. Unfortunately, their eventual closure has not been ruled out either, and if a gem such as Hamptonne can be closed, nothing can be regarded as entirely safe.

Of course, there is a further dimension to the trust’s problems which could yet produce a solution. Although it is a body with its own budget, it comes under the umbrella of government which can, if it so chooses, boost the funds available.

In these tough conditions, as we struggle to emerge from recession, money is, to say the least, not abundant. However, if States Members are serious about heritage, about the part it plays in enriching people’s lives and about the Island’s ‘personality’ at home and abroad, they should certainly look again – and with a greater sense of urgency and importance – at what can be done to ease the trust’s parlous position.