PRESS INFORMATION:
MILTON KEYNES MUSEUM JOINS CONNECTED EARTH PARTNERSHIP

Issue Date: 26 March 2003

Ref: MKM03/01

Milton Keynes Museum, an independent, local social history museum and home to the Telephone Museum, officially joins BT’s Connected Earth partnership today. To mark the occasion, Milton Keynes Museum will receive a large collection of telecommunications objects from the BT heritage collection - and also funding towards a new Connected Earth gallery dedicated to the history of telecommunications.

Milton Keynes joins a unique partnership of eight national, regional and independent museums across the UK, which have all received Connected Earth artefacts to augment their existing collections and funding towards new galleries.

Welcoming Milton Keynes to BT’s Connected Earth Partnership, Richard Lloyd, BT project manager, said: “Milton Keynes has already built up a significant collection of telephone memorabilia and we are delighted that it will now join the Connected Earth network. The additional artefacts and the contribution towards a new Connected Earth gallery will improve interpretation and context, making telecommunications heritage accessible and enjoyable for visitors as well as educational groups.” 

Bill Griffiths, Museum director, said: “This announcement represents the latest stage in the development of Milton Keynes Museum. It is recognition by one of the UK’s leading companies of what the Museum has accomplished to date, and in particular the work of the telephone volunteers. We anticipate that becoming a partner in Connected Earth will help to raise the profile of the Museum locally, regionally and nationally.”

Among the objects handed over to Milton Keynes by BT is the world’s largest working telephone, the Roadphone. Designed to make a big impression, the huge, yellow Roadphone was built in 1983 on to a Ford van chassis. It was taken around the country to fairs, exhibitions and processions, including the Lord Mayor’s Parade in London, and could be used by the public to make calls. It will now become one of the prime exhibits at Milton Keynes where it joins an existing collection of working telephones and switchboards, as well as additional items from the Connected Earth collection. 

BT is providing part funding for a new gallery, with other funding sources now being approached by the Museum, working towards a realisation of the project in 2005. In the meantime, the telecommunications heritage collection will continue to be on show in the Telephone Museum, within Milton Keynes Museum, and the Roadphone will be on view in the Museum’s Hall of Transport.

Notes to Editors:

1. Milton Keynes Museum joins the Connected Earth partnership which includes the Science Museum, National Museums of Scotland, The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, Museum of London, Amberley Working Museum, Porthcurno Museum of Submarine Telegraphy and the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station Experience. Underpinning the existing and planned Connected Earth exhibitions at these museums, is the Museum on the Internet, www.connected-earth.com, a fully interactive, multi-media website with some 1,400 pages of information on telecommunications heritage. Each Connected Earth gallery includes access to the Connected Earth website through dedicated terminals.

2. Milton Keynes Museum is an independent museum run by a charitable Trust with almost all work carried out by a dedicated team of volunteers. It is situated on the site of a farmstead, once occupied by tenants of the Radcliffe Trust, whose rents paid for the running of the infirmary, library and observatory at Oxford. It lies on the edge of Wolverton, the world’s first “railway town”. Started by a group that saw Milton Keynes as a threat to their heritage, it has become a Local Social History Museum that is part of the New City. Transport and shopping are also featured within the story of the Victorian farmstead.

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Milton Keynes Museum preserves the history of Britain's newest city. The Museum is located at an authentic Victorian farm, built in the late 1840s on the outskirts of Wolverton, one of the UK's original "railway towns", and now part of Milton Keynes. Its large and constantly changing selection of displays have something for all the family.

Collections include social, domestic, industrial and agricultural items with a connection to the area. The displays follow the history of the Milton Keynes area, including North Buckinghamshire and South Northamptonshire, from 1800 to the present day. During this period the area changed greatly, culminating in the decision in the 1960s to create the UK's last "new city" of Milton Keynes. 

Further information (press): 
Connected Earth:
Ylva French Communications
Tel: 020 72333 6789
Fax: 020 7233 6770
Email: ylva@ylvafrench.co.uk

Milton Keynes Museum:
Bill Griffiths, Museums Director
Tel: 01908 316222
Email: bill.griffiths@mkmuseum.org.uk
Keith Wootton, Public Relations Consultant
Tel: 01327 830675
Email: mkm@keithwootton.co.uk