Skip to content

Museum damaged in electrical fire reopens

Tony Fisher
BBC News, Buckinghamshire
Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Two firefighters are walking through the museum. To their left are displays but on their right a wall has been damaged by fire. There is debris on the floor and large damaged pieces of wood scattered behind them.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
A gallery which houses old telephones was damaged by the fire

A museum which had to close for more than two months following an electrical fire has reopened.

Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service sent 10 crews to Milton Keynes Museum in Wolverton in February.

Museum director Bill Griffiths said that a gallery housing an interactive display, which was damaged in the fire, had been restored.

He said: "It has been a long road to reopen again dealing with various insurance companies but we can now breathe a sigh of relief."

He added that volunteers had helped clean up and repaint the space and made suggestions as to which items should go back on display.

Milton Keynes Museum A red brick building surrounded by a wall with picnic benches in the foreground along with a pink bench with "Wolverton" inscribed on itMilton Keynes Museum
The museum, which is an independent charity, has been going for 58 years

No artefacts were damaged in the fire, but interactive items in the museum's communication gallery, which housed old telephones, were lost.

"The telephones won't be back for a while yet whilst the wiring is repaired," said Mr Griffiths.

"We have had so many inquiries about when we were going to reopen - it's been very gratifying.

"People have missed us."

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC An interactive element from the museum, in this case a black steel grid with spinning disks in the spaces, is laying on its side outside the museum. It is covered partly n white ash.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Interactive elements were damaged in the fire last month

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Related internet links