Core Offer - East Sussex County Council

The Core Offer for 2019/20 is outlined in the publication on the right. Please click on this to read. Scrolling down through the sections, you will arrive  at the Communities section. This highlights The Keep and proposes specific reductions.

Responses were invited to these proposals. A letter was sent to ESCC from the FoTKA chairman, Lady Teviot, see below. Since then, budget reductions have been confirmed. 

FoTKA members can, if they wish, make their feelings known to ESCC or indeed to FoTKA.

The raison d’être of FoTKA is to support The Keep, especially important in these times of austerity. We shall post further news on this important topic, as it develops.

If you wish to make your views known, please use the form at the bottom of the page.  Alternatively, write directly to the FoTKA secretary, and if so please indicate whether you would like your letter will be forwarded to ESCC:
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The Friends of The Keep Archives
The Keep 
Woollards Way
Brighton
East Sussex BN1 9BP
Click image to view detail and scroll down >>
On the 5th page 'Communities, Environment and Economy' you will see that The Keep is mentioned.

Update on Core Offer

The following is a statement from The Keep Board:
"The Keep Board have agreed to the development of The Keep Sustainability Plan 19/20 - 21/22, which will include a new proposed service offer and savings plan, whilst ensuring that The Keep continues to fulfil the statutory duties of the Partners, should it become necessary to make the savings we are currently planning for.  The draft Sustainability Plan is currently being worked on and will be considered by the Board in April 2019.  Any proposed changes will be signed off by the Keep Board.  Proposed changes and the rationale will be shared with staff and key stakeholders, and dependent on the nature of any proposed changes, we may require staff and public consultations."  - March 2019

Letter of response to the Core Offer consultation - 21/12/18

Dear colleague,

Consultation on ‘A Core Offer for East Sussex’

Thank you for inviting comments on ‘A Core Offer for East Sussex’ - a clear statement of objectives and implications for the coming year.

I am the Chairman of Friends of The Keep Archives (FoTKA), and feel it is imperative to comment. I shall focus mainly on the ‘Communities, Environment and Economy’ section of the consultation, which specifically mentions The Keep.
  • The Keep is a unique new-build archive centre, opened by HM the Queen in 2013. It is a shared facility, housing collections of three major organisations -East Sussex Record Office; the Royal Pavilion and Museums of Brighton and Hove, and University of Sussex. The Keep serves East Sussex, but some functions are of National significance. For example, the special collections of the University of Sussex include the Mass Observation Archive, a National archive of personal diary writing, covering mainly the years of WW2, together with an on-going National MO project. The Keep houses the Sussex Family History Group.
  • FoTKA is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), with a membership of around 200. Its raison d’etre is the support of The Keep through fund-raising and grant-giving. FoTKA has funded 15% of the The Keep’s acquisitions in 2017/18, to the tune of £11,000. FoTKA’s members come from all walks of life, some are learned historians and genealogists, some have a more general interest: what united them is a fascination with their heritage. To quote a respected Canadian Archivist ‘of all national assets, archives are the most precious, and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilisation’. FoTKA embraces this view.
  • The world is changing, technology is increasing and perhaps as a result of that, there is a palpable thirst for knowledge of history and identity. The lives of historical figures and events of the past, are features of prime time television and films, with highly qualified academics as stars. Websites like Ancestry.co.uk and programmes such as ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ attest to the huge enthusiasm of the population for such knowledge. The Keep is playing its part in this surge of interest, by developing contracts with genealogical organisations.
  • FoTKA working with The Keep, will continue to increase efforts to reach out to communities and individuals to engage them in supporting The Keep. We are also very supportive of The Keep’s management, and in particular Casper Johnson, in their innovative thinking to improve efficiency and effectiveness, without compromising their key fundamental roles, both statutory and non-statutory.
  • Given all of the above, FoTKA is very disappointed to read that one of the envisaged effects of the budget cuts on The Keep is reduced access of the public, to the records. That really is swimming against the tide. Records should not be a dusty static collection; they should be used, and their use encouraged. FoTKA would argue that access to records could be regarded as a potential income generator, quite apart from affirming the intrinsic value of knowledge-based services.
  • Similarly, reducing educational outreach of The Keep, and elsewhere in the Core Offer, acknowledging that partnership working might be reduced, denies evidence of how better outcomes can be achieved in complex organisations. Children must have access to The Keep and libraries to expand their knowledge of the past and present world. The Keep should be seen as a primary educational resource, and should be expected to go out of its way to engage with the statutory educational establishments.
  • As said above, FoTKA understands the severe financial stringencies that are besetting ESCC and other public organisations, and also the prioritisation of front-line services, but would advocate as powerfully as it can for the role of education and knowledge - in this instance both modern and historical - in allowing the development of the aspirations and achievements of the whole population.
  • FoTKA would be very happy to forward some of its publications, and to meet with officers of ESCC to give further information
​Yours sincerely,

​The Lady Teviot
Chairman, Friends of The Keep Archives
​21/12/18

Response to ESCC Core Offer 2019/20
[keep] history alive [keep] connected [keep] reading between the lines [keep] your eyes peeled [keep] surprising yourself [keep] discovering [keep] being amazed [keep] searching [keep] solving mysteries [keep] smiling [keep] rediscovering [keep] observing  [keep] it safe [keep] exploring [keep] inspiring [keep] hold of this [keep] a look out [keep] questioning