Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life has received £39,900 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the museum to safely re-open to visitors.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown began we’ve been closed to the public. The museum is an independent charity and is dependent upon generating income through admission, events and learning activities. Temporary closure meant that the museum was not able to earn any of the income that it depends upon through the busiest period of the year. So that visitors can enjoy the museum safely, we are opening at reduced levels (Thursdays and Fridays, expanding to Saturdays from 26th September), with pre-booked tickets (please see the visitor information page for further information). We were delighted to welcome back our first visitors in five months on Thursday 10th September.

Pippa Griffith, Director at the museum said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now open again and share our heritage with our local community. 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.”

The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. £50 million was made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector. The UK-wide fund aimed to address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.

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 wellbeing. 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 Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life during this uncertain time.”

Like Tiverton Museum, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery. This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and span the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance. By playing The National Lottery, people up and down the country are making an amazing contribution to the nationwide-response to combatting the impact of COVID-19 on local communities across the UK.