Museum’s £50,000 helping hand from emergency fund

A top transport museum has reopened with the help of a £50,000 grant from the National Lottery Emergency Fund. Amberley Museum, which has a fine collection of early Southdown buses, had to be closed for four months, and cancelled its show programme for this year. It has now been able to re-open, and will operate the buses on site over the weekend of 18-19 September.

The grant will help cover costs over the next few months to support opening during a period described as one of ‘serious financial challenges’ by Director Valerie Mills.

[wlm_nonmember][…] [/wlm_nonmember] [wlm_ismember] “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now plan for the future with much more confidence and these funds will help us to stay open to visitors over the next few months. We’re grateful that the National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all,” said Valerie.

The museum, housed on a former chalk pits site, opened in 1979. Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal well-being. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Amberley Museum during this uncertain time.”

Amberley Museum is currently open Wednesdays to Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays.

Details via www.amberleymuseum.co.uk

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