It is always a pleasure to welcome government visitors to Stoke-on-Trent, but there are few occasions when this manages to chime so nicely with a number of relevant projects occurring in the city at the moment. This was especially so given that Gavin Williamson MP has links to the city through the ceramics industry, where he was MD of Aynsley China and a past President of the British Ceramic Confederation. It was therefore a great pleasure to welcome Gavin to the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery to see the recently discovered Fighting Fifth banner which has been part of an acclaimed exhibition at the museum.
It was also a great opportunity to show the Secretary of State the Spitfire gallery, where the Fighting Fifth banner will go following preservation. The city’s Spitfire is currently under restoration whilst the proposed extension to the museum is being built - and Gavin’s visit coincided with submission of the planning application, which he endorsed!
We rounded off the visit by viewing the Staffordshire Hoard, which is jointly owned by the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
You can see the Sentinel coverage of the visit here and Signal Radio’s coverage here.
