Castle’s closure ‘does not surprise’ former chief
SHE SAYS SHE RAISED CONCERNS ABOUT BOARD OF TRUSTEES
A FORMER CEO of Nottingham Castle has called for an investigation into its closure.
Sara Blair-manning also confirmed that she intends to pursue her claim for unfair dismissal against trustees of the site.
Commenting on the closure, Ms Blairmanning said: “Sadly, this does not surprise me. In July 2021 I raised concerns about the board of trustees’ poor standards of governance and lack of appropriate expertise and experience.”
It is understood that Nottingham City Council’s representative on the board of trustees resigned in October last year.
The former CEO added: “This raises questions about the apparent inaction of Nottingham City Council, as owner of Nottingham Castle.”
“I hope Nottingham City Council will not duck their responsibility to establish an independent investigation of what went wrong.”
Following these comments, a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “Sara Blair-manning, the former chief executive of the castle, is involved in an ongoing claim for unfair dismissal by the trust.
“Therefore it would not be appropriate for the council to comment in detail at this time on the issues she has raised in regard to this matter.
“The Castle Trust is a completely independent organisation and, as such, the council has not been in a position to intervene directly in its day-to-day running.
“Following today’s announcement by the trust, it’s important that we get a clearer picture of the current situation before we review options for the future with other partners.
“Our priority is to work with the liquidator, once appointed, to provide support and advice to staff at the castle and to safeguard the site and its collections while it is not operational.”
The closure of Nottingham Castle has been a surprise for many residents in the city as well as tourists that have travelled across the UK to visit the historic site.
One family had travelled to England for a two-week holiday, and decided to save Nottingham and the castle until their last day in the country.
Roxanne Weir, 56, said: “We were going to visit it for the last day of our trip – we’re from America.”
Harold, 63, added: “We’ve been here for 14 days and we could have visited earlier if we knew. This is our first trip to England.”
When asked what they will do for their final day now, he said: we’re trying to figure that out.”
Harold explained that the family had ancestors in Nottingham so they had been looking forward to visiting the attraction.
Mum Wathsala Wijesingne, 51, of London, had planned to visit Nottingham Castle with her children, who are studying at the University of Nottingham.
They booked the tickets two weeks in advance, but arrived yesterday morning to find that the gates were closed and the castle shut until further notice.
Wathsala said: “It’s really disappointing. Before I came here to visit I told them I need to see this place so they booked tickets online. We came here and were not informed.”
Her son Nadithkk added: “They have already charged so I don’t know how we get our money back. It was around £60.”
Also visiting from London were Bob Barney and Richard Weston. Bob, 65, from Boston, USA, said: “We found out when we arrived and read the sign and then ran into a bunch of staff who said they only found out at 9am. It’s disappointing. We came from London as we have a railcard.”
Richard said: “we’re going to the Trip to Jerusalem pub unless that has been liquidated as well.”
Many other families and tourists arrived throughout the morning hoping to visit the castle, only to be diasppointed.