I write in relation to your article about the gardens of Tymperleys Clock Museum (Gazette, May 5).

The garden closure, then subsequent reopening, is, in my view, a smokescreen by the Lib Dem-led administration running Colchester Council to draw attention away from the fact they have closed Tymperleys Clock Museum for good.

The public will rightly feel angry about this, as the building, dating back to the 1500s, and the Colchester Clock Collection were gifted to the town in the 1950s by benefactor Bernard Mason.

The Lib Dem administration running Colchester will tell you it is a money saving exercise. But how much tourism trade will we lose for the £26,800-a-year investment?

The museum has several thousand visitors a year and even more to the gardens. Sadly, this is yet another example of this administration not taking our town’s heritage, or indeed our local economy, seriously.

The Lib Dem-led administration is looking into other uses for the building.

But do you want to see the clock collection broken up and Tymperleys as a B&B or a bar?

Why has the council not looked at fundraising opportunities within the museum or volunteers to help run it?

Tymperleys can and must be saved.

I urge local residents who are as concerned by this as I am, to write to the council, urging it to reverse this shortsighted decision and reopen Tymperleys Clock Museum.

Councillor Will Quince
Magazine Farm Way
Prettygate
Colchester