Catalyst calls on community and businesses for support as it looks ahead to 2027.

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum is asking visitors, the local community and businesses to support the much-loved Widnes attraction as it navigates a challenging period ahead of the opening of its new gallery in early 2027.

Welcoming around 30,000 visitors each year, Catalyst combines the roles of museum, archive and hands-on science discovery centre. Visitors can explore interactive exhibits, live science shows and workshops, while schools use its dedicated laboratory and teaching spaces and researchers can access its extensive chemical-industry archives.

The heritage of the site stretches back more than 170 years, to the period when Widnes became one of the most important centres of Britain’s emerging chemical industry. Housed in the Grade II listed former offices of John Hutchinson & Co., subsequently occupied by Gossages Soap Works, Catalyst today protects and shares the stories, collections and scientific heritage that helped shape both the town and the wider chemical industry.

Like many museums and visitor attractions across the country, Catalyst is facing significant financial pressures following what has been a perfect storm of challenges.

A particularly hot summer and wider demands on household spending, affected visitor numbers for indoor paid-for attractions, while the costs of running the museum have continued to rise - from energy and suppliers to increases in staffing costs. Government measures designed to reduce the cost of family days out over the summer also offered little benefit to Catalyst because its museum admissions are already exempt from VAT.

At the same time, work is progressing on a major transformation of Catalyst’s first-floor heritage galleries, creating interactive, multi-sensory spaces exploring the story of the local chemical industry and the way it has shaped the landscape, culture and people of the area. The new gallery will showcase the important contribution Widnes and the wider region have made to science and industry, connecting that extraordinary heritage with the scientists, innovators and problem-solvers of the future.

Whilst investment secured for Catalyst’s heritage work is creating an exciting future, that funding is restricted to specific heritage activity and does not support the wider day-to-day costs of operating Catalyst. As an organisation that is both an accredited museum and a hands-on science discovery centre, Catalyst also reflects a wider national funding challenge: established funding routes exist for eligible museum, heritage and cultural activity, while equivalent infrastructure support for science and discovery centres has historically been much more limited. Catalyst CEO Nikki Burton said:

“Catalyst is far more than a building. It is a place that generations of local families have grown up with, where children discover science for the first time and where an extraordinary part of this area’s industrial and social history is protected and shared. 

We wanted children to continue experimenting and discovering, schools to continue learning here and families to still be able to visit a place that means a great deal to so many people. We also wanted researchers and local people to continue to have access to our important archive and collections.

And fundamentally, the reason Catalyst Science and Discovery centre exists is the same reason we are transforming the gallery: to make science, chemistry and our incredible industrial heritage accessible to everyone.”

Catalyst is unique in the UK as a museum dedicated to the chemical industry, while also operating as a hands-on science discovery centre. The charity is now asking people to get behind it during this important period by visiting, becoming a member, spreading the word or getting involved.

Nikki continued: “If you have been thinking about visiting Catalyst, please come. Bring your children or grandchildren. Meet friends here. Come to an event. Tell somebody about us who may never have visited before. We are incredibly excited about what is coming with the new gallery in 2027, but we need people with us on the journey to get there

Catalyst is also making a direct appeal to the region’s business community to get involved.

There are many ways organisations can get involved, from corporate membership and sponsorship to partnerships, donations and in-kind support. Catalyst is seeking to raise £100,000 or more to help restore its reserves and provide greater resilience as it moves towards the opening of the new gallery in 2027.

For businesses, supporting Catalyst provides an opportunity to build a visible association with science, education and the region’s industrial heritage, while supporting young people’s futures, community impact and employee engagement.”

Nikki added:

“The history we care for is intertwined with the history of business, chemistry, manufacturing and innovation in this region. Whether you visit us with your family, support us as a business, become a member or simply help spread the word, you are helping us protect something very special while we build an exciting future.”