I AM writing to thank Chepstow Town Council for its invaluable continued support of Chepstow Museum.

As many of the present councillors may not be aware of the original circumstances of this grant, I thought it might be useful to reiterate them, so that everyone can appreciate how important the grant remains.

Like other museums in Monmouthshire Museums Service Chepstow used to close for the lunch hour between 1pm and 2pm. This caused much upset to visitors particularly those who had travelled considerable distances to see special exhibitions, and there were of course complaints. Town councillors took up the cause and tried to pressurise Monmouthshire County Council to amend the situation. But of course, the extra funding needed (plus the fact that they would have been making an exception for one museum, which was deemed unacceptable, thereby making the additional cost untenable) meant that attempts to remedy the situation were met with refusal.

Fortunately Chepstow Town Council recognised the important contribution that the Museum makes towards tourism and the local economy, attracting visits to the town with its exhibitions and other activities, and decided to support the costs of lunchtime opening itself.

Originally this allowed us to employ an additional member of staff over the main tourist season, as we had a fulltime member of staff during the week. But with staff changes we have been able to maximise the use of the Town Council funding, and by having two part-time posts to split the day between the, the funding now enables the Museum to stay open throughout the day all year. (I should add that the other museums are still suffering the inconveniences of lunchtime closure).

With the popular and successful exhibitions and events that we have had, our indebtedness to Chepstow Town Council for solving the problem of lunchtime opening and removing what was an infuriating situation for visitors to our town, is huge. We are very conscious of the impact that has made both for customer satisfaction and the ease of operation for our front of house staff.

Once again, our thanks and appreciation for the Town Council's support and recognition of the importance of this facility for the benefit of the town.

– Anne Rainsbury.