Woman to launch funding campaign to transform museum into social hub

A WOMAN from Henley wants to launch a crowdfunding campaign to turn the former River & Rowing Museum into a community space.

Fleur Martin, 33, wants the building in Mill Meadows to be used as a community hub rather than be turned into a “private gym” or “hotel”.

The museum closed in September due to financial difficulties.

Mrs Martin, a part-time gardener, moved to Henley 18 months ago with her husband Alex, who works in commercial property, and said she is looking for potential investors.

She was hoping the rest of the funds needed could be raised through a public fundraising campaign.

The museum’s foundation trust made the decision to shut down the operation in July due to unsustainable costs, including a £1m loss in the previous financial year.

In November, the building was put on the market with American commercial real estate services company CBRE with a price tag of

Mrs Martin, who previously worked in events, said she first had the idea for the project while exploring the possibility of opening a café in the museum when it was open.

She was eventually informed by the general manager that the museum was planning to close and the building would soon be on the market.

Mrs Martin said: “I just think if that place is gone and it turns into a private gym, then it closes it off to a huge number of people.

“I think it can be easy for people to just assume Henley is a wealthy place but not everyone is in the top however many per cent. Everyone needs something from the area.

“My overall vision for the spaces would be very multi-purpose.”

Mrs Martin said space in the building could be used for a soft play area for children, a café, a bar and restaurant and wellness amenities, such as a swimming pool, outdoor sauna and yoga or pilates space.

She added that central to her idea would be accessible spaces for local artists to use as a nod to the former Henley Gallery in the museum. “It’s not too different to how some of the spaces have been used,” she said. “But perhaps it could support teenagers that have just left The Henley College or people who live locally because there isn’t actually that much space elsewhere in town if you want some kind of creative studio.”

Mrs Martin added that she would like to see the building used as a space for young people who were limited to where they could go.

She pointed to the decline in youth centres which had been axed due to funding cuts. Henley Youth Centre closed in 2015.

Mrs Martin said: “Being a teenager is always difficult because you’re not old enough to go to the pub and not every parent wants to be with teenagers around their home every evening.

“It’s important to me that the building in the future has something for a wide reach of people, from very young babies all the way through to the elderly.

“I don’t think it has to be complicated to appeal to that wide range.”

Mrs Martin said the idea for the project had in part been inspired by a community centre in Hammersmith, Re:Centre, where she had previously worked in the events team. “It reminded me of that an awful lot,” she said. “It had a big wellness focus. We had a yoga studio, a vegetarian café, an artist residency and then event spaces.

“Sadly, that venue and business shut down during covid and it just felt like it had so much more to give.”

To put her plan into action, Mrs Martin has been in conversation with the sale agent and Henley Town Council, the landowners.

She said: “I reached out to the agent and it was discussed with the board of trustees and they said that’s fine.”

Mrs Martin said she would be interested in hearing from people with ideas or who were interested in the project.

She said: “I think it’s very much one of those things. If not me who does it, then who? I want it to be a community space in terms of the people that make it happen as well as the people who would then use it.”

For more information, contact @themuseum_hen ley on Instagram.

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