HOPES are high that Trowbridge Museum’s £2.45m expansion project, £900,000 of which has come from the town council, can have a ‘transformative’ effect on the town.

The museum’s Onwards and Upwards project received £1,172,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund last year and a key part of that was down to Trowbridge Town Council pledging to support it financially too.

After the lease and licenses, among other paperwork, were completed in April, the town council confirmed it is willing to borrow the £900,000 towards the project, at an annual cost of £50,000.

Museum curator, Clare Lyall, thanked the council for its support of the project, which she hopes will transform Trowbridge for the better.

“We are so grateful for the town council’s continued support which was key in making all of this possible,” she said.

“I hope it can have a transformative effect on Trowbridge, like the Turner Museum did for Margate, which has improved considerably over the years. When you have such an exciting project, it can act as a catalyst for a lot of great things.

“We want to be able to borrow exhibits from top museums in the future too.”

The new museum will reach out from its base in The Shires, to encompass the whole town, through visual links from the top floor, interpretation and signage at key locations and significant buildings linked to the museum.

It will close on June 2 before being reopened in the summer of 2020.

Cllr David Cavill added: “It is essential that we support this. It is great that the council recognises how special this project will be.”