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THE opening hours of a community museum face being cut unless cash is found to fill a £75,000 black hole.

Wantage's award-winning Vale and Downland Museum in Church Street - which had almost 49,000 visitors last year - needs more funding to keep its doors open six days a week.

The 50-year-old museum, staffed mainly by about 90 volunteers, was forced to cut its annual budget to about £100,000 last year - £75,000 less than it needs to run. It has already cut its paid staff by almost half and has been looking to make savings wherever possible.

Administrator Tony Hadland said the black hole had arisen from the rising costs of operating the museum and the lack of profit from hiring out Lains Barn at Ardington, which is owned by the Vale and Downland Museum Trust and is used to raise funds to operate the museum.

But the museum is struggling to keep up with the rising cost of meeting regulations needed to enable it to host events.

Mr Hadland said: "This year we have had to cut right back. It's a massive cut. It's unlikely that we would ever close, but we do need as much financial support as possible.

"We are looking for on-going funding from any direction, for example parish councils, philanthropists, company sponsorship or sustained support from any particular source.

"We have a fantastic museum here and we need more funding to keep it going."

He added: "If we don't get funding, it would be a case of cutting back on services first, perhaps restricting our opening hours and holding fewer exhibitions. We would start stripping back on those things first, so it would be pruning rather than a catastrophic closure. But if we don't get more money, there is a bottom line - there is only so much we can cut back."

The museum is mainly self-subsidising, although it receives about a third of its annual income - £54,000 - from public funds, including £32,000 from the Vale of White Horse District Council and contributions from Wantage Town Council and Grove Parish Council. Last year, the museum attracted almost 43,000 visitors to its 27 different temporary exhibitions and 12,000 visitors to the main gallery. It also hosted ten family-friendly themed events and was visited by 21 schools and 115 community groups.

The museum and café also acts as an informal meeting point for groups of friends.

Gillian Taylor, secretary of the Wantage Country Market, said: "We are quite concerned about it because there is nowhere else we would be able to go."

Bob McLatchie, leader of the Wantage Health Walks which start and finish at the museum cafe every Thursday morning, added: "It's more than a museum, it's like a community drop-in centre."

Mr Hadland stressed the funding issue was separate to the £25,000 Jubilee appeal launched last year to restore the museum's crumbling listed buildings.

3:13pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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