Apr 14 2009
Bagpuss carers face redundancy as cutbacks hit textile centre
From Matthew More, Telegraph.co.uk
The entire staff of the Textile Conservation Centre will be laid off in November after the University of Southampton decided that it could no longer afford to host its work.
The closure brings to an end decades of preservation work by the organisation, which had become a centre of excellence for textile conservators.
As well as prolonging the life of the Bagpuss – its experts devised a programme to maintain the toy cat after infrared analysis of his fur – staff at the centre restored the topsail of Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory, boots worn by Henry VIII, and even helped preserve the fake leather trousers of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
Peter Longman, deputy chairman of the centre, said that the closure will have “serious implications for the conservation and museum sector”. More than half of the world’s leading textile preservation experts were trained at the centre, according to The Times.
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