A museum is to close its doors on casual visitors because of dwindling numbers and instead turn to booked guided tours where it has proved successful.

And the change in policy at Bradford's Colour Museum will also see it change its name to the Colour Experience.

The museum on Grattan Road will be focusing its efforts on providing workshops and colour-related activities for schools and groups.

The museum, which is owned and managed by educational charity the Society of Dyers and Colourists, has found that while visitors from the general public have dwindled there has been an upturn in the visits from school and college groups.

Curator Graham Alcock said the museum has decided to focus its efforts where it was being most successful.

He said: "The museum has enjoyed considerable success in providing a variety of workshops for schools from all over the country. We have therefore decided to concentrate our resources in order to meet this growing need.

"We've tried various means of bringing in people but with not much success so we have taken the decision to concentrate on the part that we are doing better at."

School groups can tour the museum to see chemical and natural dyeing, explore how the human eye works and receives colour, and study optical illusions and the psychology behind colours. They can also take part in workshop sessions that allow students to take part in experiments. All of the activities are focused around the curriculum needs of that particular group of students.

The museum's change of name is in line with its educational Colour Experience website launched in 2005 which is currently logging more than 500,000 visitors a year.

As well as continuing with its programme of talks and workshops on many aspects of colour, the society is developing a series of initiatives designed to take the message about colour to educational groups.

A recent example is the specialist workshop devised and delivered for the UK Museums, Libraries and Archives Council at the University of Bradford on the subject of natural dyeing.

To accommodate these changes the existing gallery space is being converted to a layout more suitable to its new role. It includes the creation of a Perkin Suite named in honour of Sir William Henry Perkin, a former president of the Society who discovered the first synthetic dye in 1856. Perkin is credited with founding the modern chemical industry.

Any members of the public wanting to look around the museum will still be able to but they will need to make an appointment by telephoning the museum.

The Colour Experience is now taking workshop bookings for 2006/7. Schools, or any other organisation wanting to know more about colour, can call (01274) 390955 or e-mail: colour.experience@sdc. org.uk.

To find out more about the Colour Experience go to www.colour.experience.org.

e-mail: sunita.bhatti @bradford.newsquest.co.uk