THE Government has refused to intervene over the threatened closure of the world-renowned Textile Conservation Centre in Winchester.

The centre trains most of the world’s fabric conservation experts and among the historic textiles it has preserved have been the topsail of Nelson’s HMS Victory, Freddie Mercury’s imitation leather trousers and Henry VIII’s football boots.

The threat to the centre by Southampton University was revealed by the Daily Echo last year sparking a national campaign and international outcry.

An e-petition started on the Prime Minister’s website has attracted more than 3,300 names.

A Government statement said Southampton University has an annual budget of £325m, and “within that total, it is solely responsible for deciding on its mission and strategy including which departments and centres it opens, closes, expands or contracts.

“It is not the Government’s role to override the decisions of the university on this issue.”

Martin Tod, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Winchester reacted angrily. “The Government is wrong to wash its hands of the Textile Conservation Centre,” he said.

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We received a petition asking: 

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to keep the Textile Conservation Centre open.”

Details of Petition:

“The Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) was established as an independant charitable trust in 1975. Based in Hampton Court Place from 1975-1999. Merged with the University of Southampton in 1998 and moved to a custom-designed building on Winchester School of Art campus in 1999. The TCC is the leading international organisation in the field of textile conservation research, education and practice. Students of conservation, conservation science and museums and galleries study alongside each other, so building a mutual understanding of the wider sector in which they will work. MA Textile Conservation is considered the leading course internationally, with the majority of trained textile conservators around the world having studied at TCC. The University of Southampton proposes to close TCC commencing summer 2008 with full closure by September 2009, with the loss of all jobs and courses. This petition is to hopefully prevent the closure of such an important academic institution which has a distinguished history and international reputation and to secure the jobs of leading academics within this field.”

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Read the Government’s response

Public funding for higher education will have increased by 30% in real terms between 1997 and 2010. Southampton University is receiving its fair share of the total level of government funding and now operates on a total annual budget of some £325 million. Within that total, it is solely responsible for deciding on its mission and strategy including which departments and centres it opens, closes, expands or contracts, taking account of competing priorities and student demand. The Government notes that the University has paid tribute to the significant achievements of the Textile Conservation Centre before and since becoming part of the University and it supports the work of the University and the Centre to look at solutions to the problems which have been identified but it is not the Government’s role to override the decisions of the University on this issue.

TENEN – The Danish Society for Textile History – assembled for general meeting in Odense, Denmark, on March 8, 2008, express our deepest regret at the news that the Textile Conservation Centre will be closing in 2009.

Half of all textile conservators of the entire world have been educated at the TCC, and the scientific level is second to none. Where will museums and institutions turn to for professional assistance?

When Karen Finch started developing the profession of textile conservation after the war, tapestry conservation was a task offered to widows of museum staff – instead of a pension. Is this the level the United Kingdom wishes to return to?

For TENEN – Danish Society for Textile History

Lone de Hemmer Egeberg, vice-chairman
Teglgården 66
DK-3460 Birkerød

BACKGROUND
The Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) was founded by Karen Finch OBE in 1975 and from then until 1999 it was based in premises at Hampton Court Palace.

The TCC merged with the University of Southampton in 1998 and in 1999 it relocated to a purpose-designed building on the University’s Winchester School of Art campus. Since that time the TCC has achieved considerable success, with its international reputation rising significantly as a result. The most notable success was the securing of a grant of nearly £1m over 5 years (2002-2007) to establish the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. The Centre was identified by the University as one of its 14 ‘centres of special excellence’.

THE DECISION TO CLOSE THE CENTRE
When the TCC joined the University the expectation was that it would become viable as an integral part of Winchester School of Art. However, this did not happen for a variety of reasons. The University decided to review the TCC following a major restructuring of the academic programme at the School of Art, of which the TCC was then part. The School of Art’s restructure resulted in the closure of the its History of Art and Design Division, to which the TCC was linked academically, and as a consequence, the Centre ceased to be part of the School of Art in August 2007.

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Conservation has been high in my thoughts recently. Largely through my current work with ICOMOS-UK (International Council on Monuments and Sites UK) I have been exposed to the vicissitudes that affect the preservation and interpretation of our heritage, whether they are the result of inappropriate development, lack of funds or lack of collective and political will to stand up for cultural heritage as a fundamental part of modern society.

However, most upsetting, shocking, and all those things has been the news that the University of Southampton has decided to close down the Textile Conservation Centre at its Winchester Campus in late 2009 only a decade after it moved here from Hampton Court Palace. The reason given is financial, in short, that the University expects all its schools to fund themselves and the TCC, it was deemed, was not able to do this. I do not want to go into all the reasons given here. You can read up on it from the links below. A quick Google search will also show the coverage of the closure in the national press…

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Threat of closure hangs over a world famous centre for historic textiles, where recent projects included conserving the topsail of Nelson’s HMS Victory, a unique set of Victorian painted canvas stage scenery - and Freddie Mercury’s imitation leather trousers.

News that Southampton University has decided to close the Textile Conservation Centre has been greeted with incredulity and rage by museum professionals and conservation experts, in Britain and overseas. The only comparable centre in Europe is in Switzerland.

I am not exaggerating when I say there is shock and anger around the world,” Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Institute of Conservation, said. “We have had dumbfounded disbelief from colleagues in Europe and beyond.” Sandra Smith, head of conservation at the V&A museum, described the news as “shocking”.

“The loss of the Textile Conservation Centre will have a catastrophic impact on the ability of museums and other heritage institutions to care for their collections in the future.” Georgina Nayler, director of the Pilgrim Trust, a charity which has often given grants for textiles, said: “It is appalling, and means the loss of not only a great centre of excellence but also a key training institution in the conservation field. How we are going to train the textile conservators of the future, heaven alone knows.”

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A CAMPAIGN to save a threatened conservation centre in Winchester is attracting national support.

A petition on the Prime Minister’s website against the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre has garnered 2,171 names.

The petition was sparked by a Daily Echo’s exclusive story last month, since followed up by national newspapers, that Southampton University plans to close the centre in 2009.

The university says the centre, which has around 15 staff and 60 postgraduate students, costs too much money to run.

Campaigners are furious because much of the cost of setting up the TCC in 1998 was paid by charitable trusts.

They say the university lured the then financially sound centre from Hampton Court Palace in London. If the centre is now losing money, that is a result of poor management since its transfer to Winchester.

Jerry Podany, of the Getty Museum in California, wrote to the university vice-chancellor Bill Wakeham, saying the closure is “widely perceived as no less than a betrayal of trust”.

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The Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) based at Winchester School of Art (WSA) is to close its doors in 2009, the University of Southampton has recently announced.

The decision will mean the loss of all jobs and courses across the centre, and has prompted one student to petition to the government to save it.

Internationally recognised as the leading institution in its field, the TCC specialises in textile conservation research, education and practice, and was originally located at Hampton Court Palace, London, before merging with the University in 1998.

However, after an extensive review of the TCC, the University has decided ‘with profound regret’ that due to financial losses, the centre will have to close. A University statement suggests that continuing to meet the Centre’s budget shortfall and to fund its new purpose-built facilities, “can no longer be justified.”

Efforts to find an external source of income to bridge the funding gap were not successful, and developing a new business plan was also not a viable solution. Transferring the centre to another University was suggested, but the ‘specific professional needs’ of the organisation could not be adequately met by any of the proposed institutions.

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