Ok - for my devoted legions of twitter followers (legions is perhaps an exaggeration), here's why West Yorkshire's local authority museums will be vital in any post-Covid economic recovery, and here's a gif of Chris Pratt to whet your appetite /1

New figures literally hot off the press show that last year, West Yorkshire’s local authority museums were visited by 2,068,137 people and contributed nearly £39 million to the regional economy. /2

Think that's all? No! Thanks to their use of local services, our museums also supported 147 external jobs in the region, worth another £4.8M. /3

The figures, produced by WYLAMP, the West Yorkshire Local Authority Museums Partnership, cover the period April 2019 to March 2020, before the Covid outbreak. /4

We (that is the WYLAMP partnership) believe these figures underline the important role museums and galleries will play in supporting a post-Covid economic recovery. (And here's a second gif with the lovely Chris Pratt) /5

WYLAMP is the West Yorkshire Local Authority Museum Partnership. WYLAMP partners believe that by working together and sharing strengths, they can provide the best possible museum services for West Yorkshire. /6

Our members include @BradfordMuseums, Calderdale @BankfieldMuseum, Kirklees @BankfieldMuseum, @LeedsMuseums, @WFMuseums, who between them operate 26 amazing museums, historic houses and art galleries, together with @ace_thenorth /7

The new figures have been calculated using the AIM Economic Impact Toolkit (2019), produced by our friends @Aimuseums (I can't find a good gif for this, so I'll just show Chris Pratt again) /8

So remember:
1. Museums are an amazing economic asset.
2. In West Yorkshire, we've got some corkers.
3. This will matter as we rebuild our economy after Covid.
4. I'm really not very good at Tweeting or using gifs, but be kind.
5. Chris Pratt ... sigh ... (ends)