The Tramway Museum Society have announced that Tony Hill has been appointed as the new General Manager of Crich Tramway Village, home of Britain’s National Tramway Museum. The appointment of a Manager was mooted some years ago, and the need to advertise for the position was further emphasised last year when a number of dissatisfied Society members requested that this become a high priority for the existing Board of Management, which is made up of unpaid volunteers. The post was finally advertised late last year and attracted a healthy number of applicants, from which a unanimous decision was made to appoint Mr Hill.
Although Tony Hill may be an unfamiliar name in tramway circles, he will bring with him a wealth of experience having previously worked as Director of the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry. This museum has already enjoyed a good working relationship with the TMS, having donated the remains of a Manchester steam tram engine to the national collection, and borrowed two trams from Crich in the past, these being Blackpool Conduit car 4 in the 1980s, and steam tram loco ‘John Bull’ for a short period in 2009. Tony’s past experience also includes working with Manchester 2002 Ltd as Head of Marketing, which saw him play a key role in staging the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Naturally there will be great pressure on Mr Hill when he starts his new role at the end of April. Crich has suffered from falling visitor numbers for several years, to the extent that income from paying visitors is no longer sufficient to balance the museum’s high running costs. The number of members volunteering to help out at the museum has also declined whilst other organisations have prospered, and hopefully this is another issue that the new General Manager will seek to address. Hopefully his arrival will be a turning point for Crich, and the country’s biggest and best collection of historic tramcars will be in safe hands under his guidance.