Pottery museum gets £3.4m lottery funding

Leach Pottery Museum has received more than £3m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

A pottery museum in Cornwall has received more than £3.4m worth of funding to make improvements to its site.

St Ives was the home and workplace of acclaimed potter and writer Bernard Leach.

The money will be spent preserving his legacy at the Leach Pottery Museum, its bosses have said.

The funding is from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and is part of a £7.6m pot of money being awarded to rare museum collections across the UK.

Libby Buckley, director of Leach Pottery, said the improvements would include a new learning and production centre to train future potters, plus workshops and classes.

She added: "We will be able to restore the historical buildings, create a new entrance and exhibitions. [It will] allow us to increase what we offer the local community and safeguard the historic Leach Pottery for generations to come.”

Leach was born in Hong Kong and spent a decade in Japan developing his interest in ceramics.

He founded Leach Pottery in 1920 and apprenticed many potters from all over the world to teach his utilitarian style.