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Redditch Heritage Church Road

After the first Technical School opened in 1892, the Institute lost the income from technical
classes, so that funds were not always adequate. An exhibition in 1893 made a profit from the
admittance fees, so the Committee was able to pay off an outstanding debt. There were so many
exhibits both the Institute and the Public Hall were used to display the items. Several prominent
Worcestershire residents and the Birmingham Art Gallery lent paintings including some by Sir
Joshua Reynolds. The exhibition also exhibited work of students in Worcestershire’s technical
schools.

Financial difficulties increased in spite of efforts to make the Institute more attractive. Such
efforts included in 1910, the ‘open access’ system for the issue of library books. Occasional gifts
of money were sent, such as that from Walter Hill who wrote, in 1925, that for 65 years
he had been one of the Institute’s most assiduous readers.⁸

Part of the description of the 1893 Exhibition in the Worcestershire Journal 8 April 1893

The Institute’s buildings and assets were passed over to the Redditch Urban District Council in
1929 for the purpose of a public library. The Institute Trust Deed, however, safeguarded the
position of the School of Art. It was laid down that the School of Art would retain all its privileges,
even if the building was handed to the Public Library Authority. By 1961 the School of Art had
become a department of Redditch College, but remained in the same premises, as the college
already had insufficient rooms. In 1972 it moved to the building in
Peakman Street vacated by St. Stephen’s First School.⁹ The library building was extended and
modernised in 1956. One of the things that delayed completion was the realisation that the School
of Art, which occupied the top floor, would require a fire escape. There was a dispute as to who
should pay for it. Eventually it was decided that Redditch Council should pay for it, and the County
Council and the School of Art should pay a rent equivalent to the debt charges on the loan that
the Redditch Council took out. ¹⁰

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