National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £5million
The museum's collection contains over 17,000 objects but these are currently inaccessible, with limited opportunity for the public to explore. In October 2020, the museum re-opened in a beautiful new home, a restored Victorian church, supported by the Heritage Fund. The move has been a success: visitor numbers have grown from 2,000 to 15,000 per year. Now, five years on, the museum is taking the next step in its transformation: building a state-of-the-art museum store, opening up the collection to the community.
This project will create a purpose-built, environmentally conscious space that is attached to the new museum. It will transform how the museum cares for and shares its collection, providing the community with a three-year programme of events and training opportunities in heritage skills.
Museum Curator, Dr Charlotte Dixon, said: “The museum prides itself on being an accessible and inclusive place to visit, but unfortunately this isn’t currently reflected in the collection stores. This grant will give us space to run community activities, enabling visitors to experience behind-the-scenes in the museum and to engage with the history of the town through the objects we care for. It will ensure the collection is preserved now and for future generations.”
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