RECENT job and hours cuts at Blackburn Museum were criticised.

At the annual meeting of Blackburn and District Arts Council, chairman Miss Connie Kay expressed concern at the near 'demise' of the district's museum services.

"It must concern all of us that we no longer have the facility to browse as and when we feel the need and that students and visitors will be denied the facility that once was on offer," she said at the Red Brick Theatre.

Miss Kay added that she felt it might be necessary to lobby councillors, urging them "to reconsider the way spending cuts are allocated next year or, at the very least, to get them to shift the emphasis on other loss-making activities rather than trim the arts budget."

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