Museum honours volunteer, 89, on 150th anniversary

Richard Croasdale, 89, has been "doing his bit" at the museum for 17 years

A town's museum has used its 150th anniversary to honour one of its longest-serving volunteers.

Richard Croasdale has been "doing his bit" at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery for 17 years.

The 89-year-old former textiles engineer said he got involved at the institution after a friend told him it had "a job I’d absolutely want to do", rebuilding a loom that was being delivered in boxes.

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s arts and heritage manager Rebecca Johnson said he was "hugely popular" with visitors.

Mr Croasdale joined the British Northrop Loom Company Ltd, a Blackburn engineering firm which manufactured machinery for producing textiles at the age of 15.

He said it was the skills he learned there that would eventually bring him to the museum.

"My friend Jim Halsall was a local historian and he rang me telling me he had a job for me to do," he said.

"While I was retired, I was already busy volunteering and so told Jim: 'I have enough of those, thank you very much'.

"But he insisted this was a job I’d absolutely want to do – rebuilding a loom that had been donated to the museum in bits [which was] being dropped off in boxes."

Blackburn Museum was one of the first purpose-built free museums to open outside of London in 1874

He said he could not wait to get started and completed the rebuild in a couple of days, despite the museum thinking the job would take months.

He then moved on to carefully restoring and maintaining the looms in the museum's Lewis Textile Collection, which celebrates the borough’s links to the cotton industry.

The great-grandfather, who was born on Cotton Street in the town, has been at the museum ever since as a much-valued volunteer and even earned a British Museum Award for his service.

He said there was "so much history here in Blackburn".

"It was the once the weaving capital of the world, and I love to share my stories with our visitors, including the schoolchildren.

"I feel like it’s better than them just reading about it in a book."

He added that he had no plans to give up volunteering any time soon.

"I love to volunteer," he said.

"It feels like I’m giving something back to the place I’ve lived all my life."

"The whole team at the museum is brilliant and they all take such good care of me.

"I’ll be here for as long as they have me."

Ms Johnson said his efforts were greatly appreciated and staff looked forward to many more years of him "sharing his fascinating stories of Blackburn through the years and his knowledge of the cotton industry".