Villages' heritage centre saved as parish council steps in to offer new base

The centre, which features artefacts, memorabilia, photographs, books and paintings by local artists, was based at a small building on North Street, Whaley Thorns, for many years.

Free to use and run by volunteers at the Langwith and Whaley Thorns Heritage Association, it is dedicated to hundreds of years of local history.

However, the association learned of plans by Derbyshire Council to sell the building, which it owns, so Langwith Parish Council intervened to offer new premises.

Coun Sandra Peake, of the parish council, said: “This organisation provides a valuable resource.

"To be told they had to get out, with nowhere to go, was disgusting. All the artefacts, memorabilia and photos could have been lost forever.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a heritage centre for our parish. That’s why we had to step in.”

The parish council offered a fresh base, free to use, at a community centre behind its own headquarters at Whaley Thorns Village Hall, Portland Road.

And now the heritage association has moved in, opening every Wednesday.

Kath Sharpe, for the association, said: “We are open and operating. Please come and visit.

"It is a satisfactory solution. We jumped before we were kicked out of the North Street building because we heard the county council wanted to put it on the open market.

“We enquired as to whether we could buy it. The county council said yes and offered us a price that was reasonable, but it didn’t include the surrounding land, so we decided to pull out.”

CounP eake hit out at the county council for “wanting to sell off everything it owns, leaving our communities only with potholes”.

However, the county authority refuted suggestions there had been a dispute.

A spokesman said: “We did not ask the association to leave the site they leased from us.

“We were in negotiations with them over the sale of the building and agreed a price.

“Unfortunately, the association thought the price included an additional piece of land. This was not our understanding, so these negotiations ended.

“We would be happy for the association to stay and would be willing to reopen negotiations.”