The Museum project’s lengthy campaign to secure a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has finally been rewarded. On 27^th November last year it was decided that we would receive up to £245,000 to enable us to restore, convert and equip the run-down office building at the former Livestock Market in Brook Street and open it as Tring and District’s Local History Museum.

The grant amounts to 85% of our projected costs, with the balance to be met from our own funds and a substantial contribution from Tring Town Council which is both our landlord and our partner in the project. We are now in a position to obtain tenders for the work and go ahead with it.

We always intended to clear the interior of the building by voluntary labour, and this is already under way. In the 1970s Brown and Merry had divided up the original single space into three offices, with lavatories and a small kitchen, but for our purposes the layout was far too cramped and is being swept away. They did the structure no favours when they sawed through two iron tie rods! 

One element of the grant will enable us to make a short-term appointment of a museum consultant, who will advise us on the content and display of our exhibits and will prepare material for us to use with local schools, which we see as being one of the main beneficiaries of the project.

As the cheering dies away, we are now faced with the reality of the task, and the next few months are going to be very busy indeed. Our intention is that building and fitting out will take place over the summer. Once we are open for business we will need a rota of stewards, and those people will need to be given an induction to the task, which is not just a question of sitting down for two hours. The experience of other volunteer-run museums is that the stewards develop a good sense of camaraderie and loyalty while doing something really worthwhile. We are in the early stages of planning this aspect of the museum, but please consider joining the team.

Thanks to all those lottery players out there, we can achieve what we set out to do back in 1994. However, this is just the end of the beginning, and I must urge everyone to support us heartily as we go into the next phase.

We are a registered charity, number 1053276.

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