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+--- Thread: 20th May - Open Letter (/showthread.php?tid=3948)
20th May - Open Letter - BAJR - 24th May 2011
On Friday 20th May a letter signed by 127 individuals and organisations calling on the government to take steps to safeguard Britain's heritage was published in The Times.
As this newspaper charges for viewing content on its website, the letter has been republished on the RESCUE website: http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/2011/05/20/rescue-sign-open-letter-against-cuts/
Although not specifically a RESCUE initiative, it is supported by RESCUE as well as by The Prehistoric Society, The Society of Museum Archaeologists, The Leicester Civic Society, The East Midlands Association of Civic and Heritage Societies and British Women Archaeologists. The individual and group signatories represent a cross-section of the heritage community including individual volunteers and enthusiasts, local heritage societies, students, members of the commercial and museum sectors and academics.
We would ask you to use this opportunity to write to your local councillors, MPs, AMs, MSPs and the local and national press (perhaps copying your letters to The Times) calling on the government and local authorities to respond positively to this expression of grave concern over the future of the heritage sector. Details of specific cuts can be found on the Rescue website http://www.rescue-archaeology.org.uk/map4/ should you wish to highlight cuts to local services or to institutions in which you have a particular interest.
We are aware that the national press as a whole is reluctant to publicise the scale of cuts to heritage services and their impact on archaeology specifically and the heritage sector more generally, an active campaign to draw attention to the current state of affairs is urgently needed. This could be the start of such a campaign.
Please do not hesitate to contact either of the signatories of this message should you require further information to use in your letters as we have a supplementary version containing further information on the issues mentioned, particularly the positive economic benefit of investment in the heritage sector. Please repost this message on other forums, Facebook etc as you think appropriate.
Andy Brockman
andywbrockman@googlemail.com
Chris Cumberpatch
cgc@ccumberpatch.freeserve.co.uk
20th May - Open Letter - archaeologyexile - 25th May 2011
I saw the letter in the Times when it was printed and looked at all the signatories and I just wondered why no archaeologists based in Scotland appeared amongst them? Could no one in Scotland be bothered or did no one in England think it worth asking?