Save Pollock's Toy Museum Fundraiser

Pollock's Toy Museum, the oldest Toy Museum in the UK, dates back to the 1850s when the printer Benjamin Pollock created the famed printed toy theatres which have become our hallmark. Since the 1950s we have been an independent museum, now run by Eddy and Jack, the grandson and great-grandson of our founder, Marguerite Fawdry. 

 

They are working with the Pollock’s Toy Museum Trust and reaching out to new and existing supporters of their unique collection to help them to stay open!

The museum and our small toy shop have remained closed for most of the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We rely entirely on visitors to the museum and shop and have lost £15,000 in income over the last year. Therefore, our first target on this crowdfunder aims to recoup this loss! We have had to furlough our small staff and we are struggling to pay our bills. We are concerned that our overheads will go up (the return of business rates and staff coming off furlough) before healthy footfall returns. This amount will help us stay open for the next year until things stabilise after the pandemic.

The good news is that first target was realized quickly, and now they have an important additional goal:

The first £15,000 we have raised has averted immediate danger and this will allow us to reopen when guidelines allow. We look forward to welcoming you back when we can. The support has been incredibly touching and has made us feel true joy. Thank you!

Yet, the future is still unclear. We have created a stretch target so we can be resilient in the face of these difficult times. It's unknown when we will be able to reopen and we are concerned business rates will return and the furlough scheme will end before we see an improvement in visitor numbers. Alongside this there is uncertainty around the future of our wonderful buildings.

All money raised with our stretch target will go into securing the buildings and making sure we can keep our doors open even if we have low visitor numbers or have to limit numbers for social distancing.

We also have a long term aim to build a public programme of events and opening our print studio for open-access use and educational, printmaking workshops.

March 2, 2021 UPDATE:  "As our crowdfunder draws to a end in three days, we are reflecting on a huge month that will go down in the history of Pollocks, of when in the depths of a dark, cold, locked down winter people from all over the world showed their love and support for Pollock's Toy Museum and pulled together to carry this much loved gem into the future." 

- Jack Fawdry, Pollock's proprietor.  

The fundraiser has been a spectacular success. Just this past week, they received a Mayor's Back to Business award of $5,000! Huzzah!!