Hi all I want to talk about something other than research for a moment. Many of you will be aware of the proposal to merge Devon and Somerset Heritage Services to form a charitable trust. This is the response to budget cuts and has much to commend it. See http://www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm for details. In Devon it affects the archives which are rather the core of our interest and so are vital to continue. With other officers from the DFHS I attended a presentation on the trust proposals from the two current leaders of the heritage services. I asked about the future of the NDRO as its name was conspicuous by its absence. Speaking to Tim Worleighton, the head of Devon Heritage he said that the future of the NDRO is not certain. He certainly doesn’t want it to close and is looking to find a different way of it remaining open, however this cannot be guaranteed. His problem is a 30% cut in the budget for the NDRO next year which he equates to a £30k shortfall. The budget has been already cut to the bone and the only overhead he could cut now is staffing. If he does so (and apart from the personal loss to the staff) he will have an unsustainable level of staff so the NDRO would then close or be mothballed (keep the archive safe but stop public access I think that means). Tim is looking to convert the NDRO into a Service Point whereby it is a part of a multiple access point for all council services which would then reduce the cost to him and to the other departments. I didn’t gain the idea that this was getting much traction at present. This could mean the NDRO is closed or reduced to an access point-this is a place where on-line and microform records only are made available by prior arrangement and is common in museums and similar across the county. The records would be safe either in the NDRO or by taking them to Great Moor. I had a thought and I have written to several people to suggest this as a possible way forward. I have no idea if it is in the slightest way feasible. When you visit the NDRO there can seem to be a lot of staff around. I think that only two of them are from the Heritage Service. Most of the rest are from the North Devon Athenaeum. The Athenaeum has a large collection of its own in the NDRO kept in the archive. They have staff. My thought was that the Athenaeum could take on a large role in running the NDRO themselves as they have a vested interest in so doing. There is a large capital investment in the archive in security and climate control if nothing else. It struck me as a possible way forward. I would welcome suggestions in other ways for the future and probably so would Tim Worleighton at the Heritage Service. I don’t think it would be viable to merely be negative and oppose the cuts. The money isn’t there and any responses would need to be supportive and constructive to carry weight. Do people have other ideas that could be helpful? There is a consultation documentation available at http://new.devon.gov.uk/heritagereview/the-proposal/ In my own opinion this is not helpful as it doesn’t address what are likely to be our concerns. There are places to comment so I would urge everyone to use it and possibly to answer the questions they would have wanted to be asked rather than the ones that actually have been asked! It’s our chance to play at politicians on a talk show! I think that we have a window of opportunity to affect policy decisions. I think the final decision will rest with the trust and that will not be in place until September at the earliest so lobbying may carry some weight. Please get involved from around the world. Jon Frayne North Devon Group Rep DFHS