A financial request has been put forward to Buckinghamshire Council so improvements can be made to a museum within the county.

A total of £2,342 has been requested by the Amersham & Villages Community Board so that areas of the town’s museum can be restored.

In a community board meeting that took place the week commencing February 5, it has been confirmed that the museum has ‘paid for an in-depth survey, conducted by BUDs (Buckinghamshire Disability Service), which has identified several improvements to accessibility to help people with both physical and neurodiverse disabilities’.

The funding would help to kick start the action plan to support the wider community and visitors to the town by enjoying local assets whilst learning about Amersham.

If granted, the money would be spent on funding ‘Phase Three’ of their ongoing project.

This includes having a new bannister to the first floor Tudor Room, an improved bannister to the new timeline display/activity room and improved accessible interpretation to the ground floor displays.

This comes after funding for Phase Two for the museum was granted in December 2023.

The funding for that was used for the following:

  • Installing improved signage at the Museum’s main entrance
  • Adding a welcome mat to cover cobbles at the main entrance
  • Installing a handrail for an internal ramped corridor
  • Adding an optional cover for the under-floor historic hearth
  • Setting up a sensory box for 'break out use' for neurodiverse visitors
  • Adding more signage for the toilet
  • Upgrading the lock, grab rail and paper dispenser in the toilet

Phase One saw the museum add handrails to the garden steps, installing contrast nosing for the garden steps and widening the door into the activity room.

Future phases include implementing the recommendations of the BuDS [Buckinghamshire Disability Service] report, which is likely to happen over many years.

The funding is to be sought from various external sources as well as the museum’s budget.

In all, the total cost of the project is £3,127.04, whilst contributing funding has come up to £785.04.

This leaves a total of £2,342 which has been requested by Buckinghamshire Council.

A segment from the report reads: “As part of Amersham Museum’s ongoing actions to widen access and particularly prompted by their current 'A New View' project which will create two new exhibition spaces, they commissioned Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) to carry out a full access and inclusion audit in May 2023.

"This also links with the museum becoming a partner in their Fair4All scheme and a signatory to the Buckinghamshire Culture Access and Inclusion manifesto.”

Amersham Museum has been open to visitors since 1991 and is based largely in a medieval hall house and explores life in the town in 1580, 1775, 1892, 1939 and 1964. 

They are an independent museum and registered charity, run almost entirely by volunteers.