MORE than 2,000 people have signed petitions to try and save Tymperleys Clock Museum.

Conservatives on the Lib Dem-led Colchester Council launched a campaign on Saturday to try and get the museum in Trinity Street reopened.

Colchester Council closed it last October to save £26,800 a year.

However, it has since agreed to reopen the gardens, but not the museum.

Tory councillor Will Quince is leading the campaign to reverse the decision and together with resident Marie Brown, a healthcare assistant, they have collected more than 2,000 names.

Gathering support outside the museum on Saturday, Mr Quince ridiculed the decision to close the museum, which was featured last week on television show Flog It.

He said: “The petition went really well. This is simply a bad decision. It was a gift to the town and a heritage attraction we cannot afford to lose.

“If you went to places like York, Bath and Lincoln, they would laugh at us for doing this. They don’t take our history seriously at all and what sort of message does this send out.”

The Conservatives are urging the council to reconsider and carry out a proper review while asking them to reopen the museum in the meantime.

Mr Quince said a small entrance fee, cafe or a small gift shop would increase funding and stop the strain on the public purse.

Colchester Council is in talks with the North East Essex Building Preservation Trust about the future of the grade II-listed building Tymperleys was owned by businessman and philanthropist Bernard Mason, who restored the building while collecting 216 clocks made in Colchester.

He died in 1981 and bequeathed the 15th century building and the clock collection to Colchester Council.