WE IN the Wedgwood family and all descendants, the hundreds of supporters who emailed us, and all the staff at the Wedgwood Museum are devastated by the High Court ruling.

It is the worst possible outcome, a grave day for British history, a sad testimony of Britain's resolve to neglect, and not cherish, its internationally-significant cultural, scientific, social and industrial treasures.

Treasures that represent 250 years of the toil, craftsmanship, design and sheer genius of the people of this nation. Are we willing to let ill-thought out pensions legislation lead to the loss, forever, of an internationally important collection? The tragic answer is yes.

It is inconceivable that a loop hole in pensions legislation means any solvent organisation is liable for the entire debt of a fund with 7,000 members, particularly when only five employees are in that fund, and they are employed by a completely separate company.

It is like a mouse expected to support an elephant, but inevitably the mouse gets squashed, and this time the mouse is an important piece of our history. No other country would so adhere to such arcane rules, and let quangos and technocrats run rough shod-over common sense.

And we want to make it clear; the Wedgwood ex-employees and pensioners are not to blame, for they are always close to our heart, and are our friends and family, and nor is the Wedgwood Group Pension Fund to blame.

They were prevented from joining the government scheme to protect their members, because this government run scheme insisted on following to the letter, new ill thought out legislation.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is millions of pounds in credit, and even if the whole of the collection is sold off, it will be like a drop in the ocean for them.

But for the people of North Staffordshire, the Wedgwood descendants and supporters it is a devastating blow.

We will not give up. We will see what kind of deal can be struck and how much we must raise to appease the PPF so they finally allow the Wedgwood Group Pension Fund to join their scheme.

We are now faced with the ludicrous situation where we are frantically trying to raise money to buy the very pieces of history that were donated freely over 250 years by the Wedgwood family and descendants.

They were donated with the intention they should be kept in perpetuity, on display for our nation to enjoy and learn from.

How much must we raise to stop the thousands of pieces of British ceramics, art, archives, private letters and details of 250 years of scientific experiments, revolutionary marketing and exquisite design, ending up in the private vaults of the ludicrously rich? It is deeply depressing our legal process can lead to such an outcome.

We will begin a fund-raising campaign in the New Year, asking the Government for urgent support, and seeking support from the Art Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and as many generous philanthropists as we can cajole. This collection is not leaving Staffordshire without a fight.

More related stories:

Top level talks to help save historic collection

£10m Wedgwood Museum has thousands of pieces on display

Tycoon's bid to buy collection

Offer to buy collection will keep it intact

John Caudwell pledges to help keep Wedgwood collection in Stoke-on-Trent

Wedgwood Museum collection can be sold to help plug £134m pension deficit