A leader of national museums and heritage organisations will present a free lecture at University Centre Shrewsbury (UCS) tomorrow on the future of Britain’s museums and heritage.

On Wednesday 27 April 2016 Sir Neil Cossons OBE will ask “Whose Museums, Whose Heritage, Who Pays?”

People are invited to the lecture, which is taking place as part of the Rowley’s Heritage Lectures series, at Rowley’s House in Barker Street, from 7pm to 8.30pm.

Sir Neil said:

“The debate on the future of Britain’s museums and heritage is becoming increasingly intense. What is their future in the face of changing public interests and attitudes and reductions in public spending? Radical new solutions are in the air.

“At the lecture, I’ll aim to set out some of the background to why we are where we are and consider some options for the future.”

Sir Neil has been active in the fields of industrial archaeology and heritage since the early 1960s.

He was the first director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust from 1971 to 1983; Director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, from 1983 to 1986 and Director of the Science Museum, London, from 1986 to 2000. From 2000 until 2007 he was Chairman of English Heritage, the principal adviser on the historic environment of England.

Sir Neil was appointed OBE in 1982 and knighted for services to museums and heritage in 1994. He is a member for the University for Shropshire Advisory Board, which provides strategic direction for UCS, and has recently been appointed a trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The series of Rowley’s Heritage Lectures will continue on Wednesday 11 May 2016 when Professor Stewart Ainsworth will explore how new research is contributing to the understanding of the archaeology of the First World War in this country.

The lecture “Fields of Fire: The Archaeological Legacy of Lord Kitchener” will be held at Rowley’s House from 7pm to 8.30pm.

Prof Ainsworth was formerly a Senior Investigator and Project Manager with English Heritage and is well known as the landscape archaeologist with Channel 4’s Time Team. He is a Visiting Professor with the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Chester.

To book places for the lectures email communications@ucshrewsbury.ac.uk or call 01743 297185.

Alternatively, people can visit the information point at Guildhall at Frankwell Quay (SY3 8HQ) which is open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Fridays or Rowley’s House at Barker Street (SY1 1QH) on Wednesdays between 11am and 2pm.

For further details on UCS events go to: www.ucshrewsbury.ac.uk/public-events.