Hoard would do wonders for us

IT SEEMS extraordinary that it is only now, and only after your coverage, that the council breaks its months-long silence about the amazing hoard unearthed just yards from the borough boundary, a mile from Brownhills and only six miles from the New Art Gallery, which might provide it with a permanent home (Advertiser, February 25).

I am certainly not alone in wondering why, if Walsall has a modern, secure gallery, built at great expense to house the world-class Garman-Ryan Collection, it could not also be fitted out and staffed to provide a permanent home for the world-class Brownhills Hoard.

While that might seem like a logical proposition, Councillor Bird says I am "irresponsible" to even suggest it, and goes on to give a list of reasons why the gallery is allegedly unsuitable. To me, the list not only has the feel of having been cobbled together, is also fails to convince. None of these items seems like a show-stopper or something that could not be fixed, but if neither the gallery nor the council have the desire to make it happen, then it won't.

A couple of days after the Hoard went on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, on February 13, I travelled up to Stoke, where they clearly have grasped their main chance. There was a two-hour wait to get in, several thousand visitors had passed through since the opening day, and Prince Charles was due to arrive two days later. The total visitor number after two weeks was 20,000, and waiting time was given as three hours. Several thousand more will pass through the doors by the time the exhibition closes next Sunday, March 7.

I can't help thinking that tens of thousands of extra visitors every few weeks, and the occasional royal visit, would do wonders for the New Art Gallery and Walsall. Would you agree, Mr Bird?

Richard Worrall, Walsall. Via email.