In these lean times when many museums are shedding staff or even closing (I heard very recently that one in North London sold off artefacts that had been donated by the public), it makes a very reassuring change when some museums are doing well. Our local one, which serves the whole of the Epping Forest District (from Waltham Abbey to Ongar) has just announced its plans to triple in size: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/10399551.__1_6_million_cash_injection_to_treble_the_size_of_district_museum/ And to think that less than 2 years ago the management and staff of this museum also took on and turned around the ailing Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon, therefore covering East Herts as well as West Essex. Not all doom and gloom after all. Lawrence