Pottery museum receives £3.49m lottery funding

Leach Pottery is managed by the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Ltd, a registered charity

A pottery museum in Cornwall has secured £3.49m funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Leach Pottery in St Ives said the funding would support its development and create new job roles.

The museum, which also received £5m from the Town Deal programme, said its £9.6m capital programme would invest in facilities.

Chair of Leach Pottery’s trustees Gary Topp said the transformational project was "exciting".

The programme would invest in new learning and production studio facilities, repair and conserve the historic buildings and reinterpret the site through new displays and exhibition spaces, the museum said.

Mr Topp said: "We are thrilled to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

"Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we can develop the Leach Pottery for generations to come."

Speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall, Leach Pottery director Libby Buckley said the funding was "incredible".

"We're incredibly grateful" Ms Buckley said.

The director said the big focus was about "opening the site up to the community", which she said would be achieved by additional staff.

Leach Pottery is managed by the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Ltd, a registered charity founded in 2005.

Acclaimed potter and writer Bernard 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.