MELDRUM BAY—Plans are in the works to have the Net Shed Museum in Meldrum Bay reopen to the public for viewing in 2024.
“We are taking all the steps necessary and are hoping to open the museum to the public again next year,” said Linda Lapointe, president of the Meldrum Bay Historical Society (MBHS).
“We are hopeful of being able to hire a student to work in the museum and have it open back up for public viewing in early July to mid-August,” said Ms. Lapointe.
Ms. Lapointe said the building is still in fairly good shape, although it still has an uneven floor in the main room of the building. The building dates to the late 1880s. “In time we will have to do something with the floor. The building is still sitting on stone, and at some point, we will have to do something with the foundation, but we should be good for a while. And the building has no leaks.”
She explained this past spring a lot of effort was put in by volunteers and members of MBHS to clean and paint the outside of the building. “We are now in the process of going through the artifacts in the museum, and cleaning everything up,” said Ms. Lapointe. “We are planning to do more work over the winter and spring and are applying to get funding for a summer student.”
“To be honest the MBHS has money in our bank account when we want or have to make any major repairs to the building in the future,” said Ms. Lapointe. “And in talking to local people it might not cost much. Local people are offering, and volunteering, to help out. Bruce White (vice-president of MBHS) and Chuck Halliday did work on the roof this spring, fixing all the screws on the metal roof. And Mary Bryan and Angela Wall did all the paperwork to send an application to Revenue Canada to reinstate our charity status. Hopefully the government will approve the application.”
The Net Shed Museum has not operated since the pandemic and the previous MBHS board were seeking someone to take over. “We were too slow in responding at the beginning. But when we found out the museum was being shut down, we decided we needed to help to get it operating again,” said Ms. Lapointe.
“The museum is important to tourism on the West End of the Island,” said Ms. Lapointe. “It is an attraction. There was quite a bit of support with many people signing a petition to keep the museum open.”
An election took place for a new slate of MBHS in May. “We’re quite excited to have our new board in place and looking forward to having the net shed museum opening again,” continued Ms. Lapointe.
Along with Ms. Lapointe as president the MBHS is made up of vice-president Bruce White, Angela Wall as treasurer, Mary Bryan as secretary and Bill Steiss as a member at large.
