A box full of cuckoos photographs by Ian Beesley Poems by Ian McMillan

Abstract

Oldham’s original Library, Museum & Art Gallery opened in 1883. Plans were unveiled in 2012 to transform the building into a new Heritage Centre at the heart of a vibrant cultural hub for Oldham. The project was awarded development funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England and the real work began.

Photographer Ian Beesley and poet Ian McMillan were invited to chart the first stages of this development. They found some rooms already empty, others still used to store museum collections and evidence everywhere of exploratory drilling and structural assessments. A new Heritage Centre will restore much of the building to its look and feel. It will also enable the museum collections to be fully displayed and allow the cuckoos out of their boxes once more.