Catherine Atkinson

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for the opportunity to debate this hugely important issue. Dinosaurs, Egyptian mummified people, a bronze age boat, Viking weaponry, rare native animal species, jet engines, rockets, a working modern railway, the remains of the world’s first factory and the largest collection of works by the Enlightenment artist Joseph Wright of Derby can all be seen in Derby museums. Some of the Wright collection is currently up the road at the National Gallery, but it will be back in Derby in June. My children’s favourite are the Egyptian mummies, which prompted my five-year-old’s recent demand that at Halloween, her mummy has to be wrapped up as a mummy—I have a lot to be thankful for. My children are three of the nearly 15,000 schoolchildren who visit Derby museums each year. Derby is blessed with museums, including Derby Museum and Art Gallery, the Museum of Making at the Derby silk mill—a UNESCO world heritage site and the location of the world’s first factory—and Pickford’s House. Given that so many of our regional museums have faced financial difficulties because of 15 years of reductions in funding from local councils—the result of the previous Government’s austerity policy—I was delighted that Derby Museums trust received £800,000 from the Government’s museum renewal fund via the Arts Council England last year. In addition, Derby also has the National Sikh Heritage Centre and the Derby Computer Museum, which has loads of computers from the ’80s and ’90s. People can have some hands-on, retro fun there by playing a game on an old Nintendo, writing basic software on a BBC or loading games from tape on an old Sinclair—it is even harder to tear my husband away from there than it is my children. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock for securing this debate, because regional museums are vital to the renewal of town and city centres, and provide places of inspiration and curiosity on people’s doorsteps. Derby museums welcome over a quarter of a million visitors each year and are vital to our visitor economy. I conclude by saying to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock that the Dracula that we would all recognise was in fact made in Derby. One hundred and one years ago, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was staged in Derby, and for the first time appeared as the charming, sophisticated vampire, with his trademark cloak and cane, that became a cultural icon. I thank Derby Museums trust, the QUAD and, particularly, the University of Derby, as well as many other partners, for their work in reclaiming Dracula as a son of Derby. If she and the Minister bite at the invitation, they could attend the international Dracula conference in Derby next year.