St Ives Archive are delighted to announce another quiz and raffle night hosted by St Ives Liz’s Quizzes. The quiz starts at 8pm and teams can be any size, at £5 per person. We look forward to seeing you there!
Tag: news
In October 2024 St Ives Archive was awarded one of three Resilience Grants by The National Archives. We will use the grant to undertake a collections’ care audit, carried out by qualified and experienced conservator Victoria Stevens. The audit will include a review of the existing collection and access policies, and it will make recommendations for moving the collection to new premises in St Ives. It will also provide advice on storage requirements and modern collections’ care facilities, including environmental and security controls.
Lyn Burchess, Chair of St Ives Archive, said “This is a wonderful opportunity to improve the care of our collections, and enable our volunteers to implement and engage with all aspects of conservation.”
During this year we have held a number of Open Days at the Market House to enable the community to enjoy access to the space for the first time in 75 years. These days have been so successful that many people already think we have moved in! In reality, there is a lot of work to do before we can finally call it home.
Over the past few months we have been working on finalising the grant funding from both the Community Ownership Fund and The Enterprise Grant awarded as part of the St Ives Town Deal. This grant funding will be used to update and renovate the building. Both sources of funding are part of the previous Government’s Levelling Up Programme, and in accessing these grants, the Archive has worked in partnership with the St Ives Town Council who own the building.
The Archive wants to transform The Market House into a modern and welcoming space for both visitors and the local community. At the same time, we wish to retain the historic heritage of the building once home to the Town Council before 1939 and where a Magistrates court was regularly held. The Magistrate’s chair is still in situ and thanks to a kind and generous offer it will be reupholstered and conserved by a local company.
The Archive intends to appoint an architect who understands the value of retaining the local heritage, but who also understands the needs of a modern archive. Wherever possible consideration will be given to environmental sustainability and improved access.
Over the next few months design work will commence to determine how we will fit into the new space whilst retaining the historic features. One of the main innovations to conserve space is the use of modern roller racking. This, however, is not without its difficulties as structural steelwork will be required and this will inevitably cause some disruption.
Once the building design work is finalised along with structural advice, a tender exercise for the building work will be carried out. This is expected to go live in the next two months.
A huge improvement in the building’s accessibility will be the reworking of the existing staircase which has been a barrier to use for a number of years. This improvement will be augmented by the installation of a lift to the first floor, which will facilitate easy access to an archive space, which will provide wheelchair-friendly movement and compatible furniture.
A final date for moving into The Market House has not yet been set, however it is expected to be in early 2026.
In order to achieve this date and provide the town with an asset it can be proud of, considerable voluntary effort will be needed. We always welcome new volunteers, so if you are interested in joining us at this exciting time, please contact admin@stivesarchive.org for an application form. As we will need to finance the physical move ourselves, donations through our website are also greatly welcome and appreciated.