Precious medals snatched during museum break-in
TWO gold medals belonging to a renowned wildlife painter have been stolen from the Silk Museum following a break-in.
The Silk Museum on Park Lane as broken into at 5am on Monday.
Medals belonging to renowned naturalistic painter Charles Tunnicliffe were taken from the museum, as well donations from the public donations box.
They were a gold medal awarded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to Charles for services to bird protection in 1975 - it has his name engraved on back with a bird on the front.
The other medal taken was Charles’ OBE medal awarded to him for services in the arts in 1978.
It is made of gold metal, with red and grey edged ribbon and has the words ‘For God and the Empire’ engraved on it.
Charles is an important part of the museum, having grown up on a farm in Sutton in the early 1900s.
Curator of the museum, Kathryn Warburton, said: “We are devastated to report the Silk Museum was broken into this morning around 5am.
“On top of the thieves creating a huge amount of damage to the museum building, they have smashed our donations box and taken public donations as well as stealing two medals awarded to Charles
OBE.
“It’s about not just the financial cost, but the fact these are one-off medals - they can’t be repeated. On the centenary year of Charles Tunnicliffe we find this a callous act and
Tunnicliffe is a huge blow to the museum.”
The museum is only open to the public Wednesday to Sunday and Kathryn said they have been in touch with local jewellers, bullion dealers and merchants.
She added that the break-in is especially hard to take considering the difficult year the museum has had due to the pandemic.
“It’s not just the fact they have stolen the medals - it’s a big cost to the museum, as we rely on donations and they’ve stolen our donations,” she said.
“We’ve been closed for 18 months, money is tight and we’ve also got to fix the breakages in the building that they caused.
“It’s really upsetting because we’re working so hard, we’ve got loads of activities planned for the summer and we’re trying to get people back to the museum, we’re trying to preserve the past for the future - it’s a blow to say the least.”
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: “At 6am on Monday August 2, officers were called to reports of a burglary at the Silk Museum on Park Mill Lane, Macclesfield.
“Police are in attendance at the scene and the investigation is in the very early stages at this time.
“Anyone with any information in relation to the incident is asked to call Cheshire Police on 101, or visit www.cheshire.police. uk/tua quoting IML 105920.”