Sheffield City Council will be installing a temporary flood defence wall right round the Island in December to replace those destroyed. Eventually a new wall will be designed and built.

The insurance companies and loss adjusters have been very helpful during the recovery process and made interim payments to ensure we could achieve the targets we set. The collections insurers have provided a settlement, although this is unlikely to meet all the conservation requirements and some hard decisions will have to be made. There is still a lot of work to be done in completing the cleaning and conservation work in the large object store. The final settlement for the building work and re-instatement of the galleries will be made shortly and then we can plan for the full re-opening of all the galleries.

A bid was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £50,000 to support the “Towards the New Kelham” project. This was successful and it has enabled the appointment of specialists to plan and manage the conservation work on the collection and contribute to the re-opening through consultation and project planning work.

The original hope was to re-open for schools in September. This meant a huge push to get spaces ready for school groups. The upper floors of the museum were largely unaffected, although heating systems had to be replaced. Ground floor spaces were identified that needed to be repaired as soon as possible to accommodate some activities that had gone on in the main galleries.

The education programme relaunched as planned and hundreds of school children have enjoyed living history sessions on "1940s: Wartime Children" and "Christmas at the Workhouse".

Following the flood on 25th June 2007 Trust staff immediately began the work of getting Kelham Island Museum back in action. Staff swept out ankle deep silt from the main galleries and with the help of a fire engine from the Fire & Police Museum, blasted silt from the car park and lane around the Museum with water pumped from the cellars.

At the same time the Interpretation & Learning Team cleared objects from cases, listing and identifying urgent conservation needs. They worked closely with a team sent down to Kelham from the Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust who were rescuing items from their Social History Collection which was stored here. The smaller objects, photographs and paper items from the Industrial Collection are safely kept in new lottery funded stores on the top floor in the main museum building.

A specialist clean up firm, Belfors, were called in and they set about removing all the damaged displays and cases; decontaminating the galleries, workshops and stores; and installing dehumidifiers and fans to dry out the building. Belfors brought in a specialist team of French engineers to clean and repair machines and equipment in the Conservation Workshops. A Dutch team worked in the cellar for a while. A multi-national rescue was underway!

Kelham Island Museum Fights to Save Collection

A frantic salvage operation by staff at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield continues today to save its valuable industrial collection from the devastating flood waters. The museum is officially now closed until further notice since the River Don burst its banks recently causing extensive damage to infrastructure and some of the larger industrial machinery at the museum. The mighty 12,000 horse power River Don Engine will need lots of care and attention to bring it back to its former glory but smaller items from the collection were fortunately saved from the destructive power of the water by only half an inch.

John Hamshere, Executive Director said “it is sad to see the extent of flood damage to the museum, especially after 13 years of hard work by the Trust and the staff who have made Kelham Island such a successful museum. Staff have been working exceptionally hard to save the collections and move items to safety on higher ground. The clean up operation will take some time to complete but our main priority is to ensure Sheffield’s industrial heritage collections are preserved for the people of Sheffield and that the museum will be open to the public as soon as possible.” A thick layer of mud and oil covers almost everything at the museum and staff have been working around the clock with the clearing up operation. The power of the water is much in evident in the car park next to the River Don where the tarmac has been lifted up in waves and smashed back down. The clean up is expected to take some time to complete, but staff are hoping that the museum will be open again to school groups in the near future.

The museum has unfortunately lost the newly opened SCOPE science activity zone which was opened by David Blunkett, but the transport gallery, which was part of a new £1.1 million lottery funded project on the mezzanine level, has been saved along with a successful attempt by staff to save the unique Simplex car which is a star attraction at the museum.

Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, which runs Kelham Island Museum has been working with Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust to create a combined effort to save the area’s heritage. Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust, who housed the City’s social history collection at Kelham Island, have been working hard in the clean-up effort at Kelham Island, salvaging important historical documents and items which are irreplaceable.

The museum would like to say thank you to the many offers of help and support which they have received from well-wishes and especially to the Fire and Police Museum in Sheffield who have been invaluable by pumping out water from the museum and grounds.