Smallest museum needs new gates (From Wiltshire Business Online)

Smallest museum needs new gates

7:30am Tuesday 24th June 2008

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Castle Combe museum which is believed to be the smallest of its kind in the UK, is hoping that the next giant car boot sale at Castle Combe circuit on July 6 will help it gain a pair of highly prized exhibits.

The museum wants to raise around £1,000 to pay for a set of gates which will probably come from a local reclamation business.

Curator Adrian Bishop said that this is the first time that the museum has had the opportunity to raise funds at the monthly carboot sales at the circuit, which ranked as one of the largest of their kind in the region with hundreds of stalls and thousands of bargain-hunters.

"We rely solely on donations for our funding and this is an excellent opportunity for us to raise extra cash," he said.

The museum, which dates back to around 1823, was originally a chapel schoolroom and has a range of local exhibits on display from Neolithic tools to an immaculate needlework sampler which was made by a local girl called Hannah Wallop and was discovered on a rubbish tip in New Zealand.

The most recent carboot sale at the circuit on June 15 raised £768 for the local Bybrook School and was the highest total raised so far this summer.

The carboot sales are open from 9am to 2pm, with seller's cars charged £8, small vans or cars with trailers £10, and large vans £25. Visitors pay 25p which goes to charity.

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