Thanks to Dave Moore for sharing this appeal from the excellent Isle of Wight Bus Museum. Ed
The Isle of Wight Bus Museum was established in 1997, when Southern Vectis abandoned its heritage fleet.
The museum’s home since then has been a disused grain storage shed on the quay at Newport Harbour. This shed is no longer suitable for us.
The number of buses in our collection has grown so much that several have to be stored away from The Quay, and at expense.
Rent increase by IWC
More importantly, the local council have raised the rent for this building to a level that means the museum has been trading at a loss for some time.
This state of affairs cannot continue if the museum is to survive.
Potential new home found
We have found a potential new home and we’re now looking to raise funds to allow us to purchase the site outright. We have considered an approach to Heritage Lottery Funding, but they do not make rapid decisions and if we did submit a bid, the opportunity to purchase this site will have passed by the time we received an answer, with no certainty that the reply would be positive.
Your donations needed
We have some money in the bank but not enough! Do you have money you could donate?
If you can help or know someone who could assist the bus museum please get in touch with the museum director, Bill Ackroyd.
He can be contacted on [email protected]
