Many will fondly recall school trips to the folklife gallery in the basement at the Manx Museum, complete with sweetie shop, fishermen’s shed and costume displays.

A favourite was the Manx cottage - although some are still convinced that the shadowy mannequin inside actually moved!

Now there are plans to close the gallery, which hasn’t changed very much since 1938, and replace it with a new one dedicated to the social history of the TT and motorsport.

Not everyone is happy.

One reader contacted us to complain it was a ’betrayal’ of what the museum was designed to be - a treasure house of artefacts representing Manx history that educates children on their rich cultural heritage.

But museum bosses point out that few visit the basement gallery these days - and those that do usually pass through without stopping.

Curator of social history Matthew Richardson said: ’We do understand people have an attachment to the gallery.

’It’s popular in people’s memories. People reminisce, they feel nostalgic about it.

’Obviously, things can’t stay the same forever. We are about reflecting change.

’It’s not a museum of museums.’

He said the summer TT exhibition put on for the centenary of the races in 2007 was the most popular one the museum has ever put on.

Head of professional services Kirsty Neate explained that move is part of Manx National Heritage’s overall gallery redisplay programme, and comes out of research into developing its audience.

She said: ’We’re working hard to present our information to appeal to a much wider audience and families.’

Kirsty pointed out that the TT is very much part of the island’s social history.

She said: ’There won’t be a serried row of motorbikes. That’s not our approach. We are interested in the story of people.

’We know it’s a Marmite subject. Some people absolutely hate the TT but we will bring it to a human level.’

Examples of items in the motorsport collection that show that human side include a copper kettle that course doctor Dr Pantin used in 1920 for making his tea.

Dave Molyneux’s burned out sidecar, from his high speed crash in 2006, shows what happens when things go wrong. ’It’s a dangerous sport. But Moly bounced back from that to win next year,’ said Matthew.

The museum is aiming to open the TT and motorsport gallery in 2022.

Kirsty insisted that the museum trustees have not been put under any pressure from government to create a TT gallery.

Having this and a TT museum, as proposed by the government, were not ’mutually exclusive’, she said.

So what will happen to the exhibits in the lower folklife gallery?

Kirsty said: ’We are looking at how we may repurpose some of the key exhibits such as the farmhouse and the little shops, possibly at the House of Manannan.

’All items will be carefully catalogued and retained.’

Answering the charge of a betrayal of the museum’s purpose, she said: ’Manx identity is diverse, it’s not just about one cottage like the one in the gallery. Even in the 19th century that wasn’t everybody’s universal experience.

’To say we are not being true to Manx identity by investing in a new gallery shows a perception of identity that is quite narrow and does not take account of the variety of galleries, displays, exhibitions and historic sites that MNH cares for and presents.’