The London Toy & Model Museum was open for seventeen years
in a small building in Bayswater, London.

In February this year the museum closed - not because it
wasn't popular, or was failing to make money, but simply
because the owning company were forced to sell because of
their own financial difficulties.

Since then a number of buyers have expressed an interest in
acquiring either the museum or its collection as a way of
rescuing the 7,500 objects from passing into private hands,
never to be seen again. Some of the offers made haven't been
enough. Some of them have been turned down by the owning
company - which seems to feel it can make more out of a
selling the collection and building separately.

I worked as the Museum's Education Officer for two and a
half years, and it has broken my heart to see our hopes of
keeping the museum alive disappearing one by one - sometimes
for legitimate reasons, and sometimes quite frankly for
spurious ones. I continue to work at the museum, gradually
packaging up the objects in preparation for an auction.

If anyone reading this knows of someone who may be able to
rescue the museum, or who may be able to keep its exhibits
in the public eye in the future, please let them know.

You can e-mail the museum on [log in to unmask]


Tim Saward
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