Official honour for William Morris supporter (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Official honour for William Morris supporter

11:16am Thursday 8th January 2009

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By Janet Wright »

Congratulations to Peter Cormack, who received an MBE in the New Year Honours list for his services to art and heritage. It’s a fitting reward for a man who has dedicated his working life to the service of Walthamstow, as keeper of the William Morris Gallery. And it’s pleasing that the government itself has recognized the value of his work.

William Morris must be Walthamstow’s most famous son: a nineteenth-century artist, socialist and author whose writings and designs are still best-sellers. The gallery, Morris’s former home, contains a unique collection of his work. Peter Cormack has a worldwide reputation as a Morris expert – and the gallery deserves no less.

What a shame, then, that Mr Cormack isn’t here to receive his award. He was forced out of his job last year. Once again, Waltham Forest managed to get rid of a priceless asset while pouring our money into useless schemes and promoting nonentities.

How did this happen? Two years ago, the council launched a “cultural cull”. The first broadside was aimed at the gallery. Its opening hours were slashed and expert staff told to go part-time or work elsewhere.

The borough’s head of museum and gallery warbled that she wanted this elegant Georgian house to be “a place where children can throw paint around”. (The council had quietly dropped plans to set up, elsewhere in Walthamstow, an art centre which would have been ideal for that.) Why should the people of Walthamstow have a magnificent treasure-house of irreplaceable art? At one extraordinary point, the borough’s priceless Morris collection was about to be offered to supporters of another nineteenth-century artist, to help them set up a gallery of their own!

A group called Antiscrap quickly formed to protect the gallery and spread the word beyond Waltham Forest. To the council’s amazement, its attack on the Morris gallery caused a worldwide protest. Although our town hall is decorated with quotes from Morris’s writings, the council seems to pride itself on knowing nothing about Walthamstow’s heritage. However, Morris -- as leader of the Arts & Crafts movement – has a global following. As the council had claimed the savage cuts were being made to save £56,000, his American supporters even offered to fund the gallery themselves.

The council’s refusal made it clear that this wasn’t really about saving money. And indeed, they have since been forced to spend more than that on patching up some of the mess made by the cuts. If it’s not about money, it can only be about hostility to Walthamstow and its unique heritage. You have to ask yourself why people who dislike the place so much bother to represent it. Well, maybe a £25,000-a-year councillor’s allowance helps.

It’s been an uphill struggle, but Antiscrap’s scrappy refusal to give up the fight seems to have scared the council off doing any more damage. Some of the gallery’s hours have been restored. And Peter Cormack’s MBE expresses what the rest of the world, if not Waltham Forest council, thinks of this borough’s most famous son.