After ten year's of doubts about its long term future, it seems that a permanent home has finally been found for the Bromsgrove Guild collection as part of a deal to hand the old Bromsgrove Museum in Birmingham Road to the Friends of the Norton Collection Charitable Trust.
 
The museum originally housed the Norton Collection, a collection of approximately 25,000 artefacts collected over his lifetime by Bromsgrove resident Dennis Norton, many of which showcase elements of Bromsgrove's history.
 
The Trust, with the help of Bromsgrove residents and organisations, raised more than £150,000 to buy the building from Bromsgrove District Council, after the council closed the original Bromsgrove Museum in January 2008 citing the spiralling running costs and a drop in visitor numbers, writes Alex Townley of the Bromsgrove Advertiser.
 
Andrew Harris, chairman of the trustees, said: "What we hope to do is reopen it. We've got permission to rebuild at the front and build on the back. That all depends on a Heritage Lottery Grant. We hope to reopen it in the spring sometime after Easter."
 
If the grant application is successful, the Trust has long term plans to build a new front on the building, and add some stairs and a lift. It also hopes to develop a space at the back of the building into a permanent home for the Bromsgrove Guild, which famously created the gates for Buckingham Palace, and Liverpool's Liver Birds, as well as the statue of the dryad and boar, which stands on Bromsgrove High Street.
 
Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid has thrown his support behind the project. He added: "Dennis is a good friend and I'm delighted to learn that he has secured the home of the Norton Museum. The collection is fascinating and a real tribute both to him and to Bromsgrove. I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to visit when it opens."
 
The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898-1966) was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert, cousin of the sculptor Alfred Gilbert. The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and other mediums and received a Royal Warrant in 1908.