Rural life museum appeals for help to stay open

The Rural Life Living Museum is a collection of discarded buildings and objects of everyday life

A museum in Farnham is hoping to raise £150,000 by the end of October to protect its legacy and avoid closure.

The Rural Life Living Museum has launched an appeal for the public's help to raise the funds following a rise in its operational costs.

In a Facebook post it said: "We didn't ever want to get to this point and we have found asking for help really difficult - but here we are."

The collection was started by Madge and Henry Jackson in 1968 and they opened their back garden to the public in 1973.

Madge and Henry Jackson opened their garden to the public in 1973

The open air museum sits on more than 10 acres (four hectares) of open space and woodland.

It has about 20 buildings, a collection of more than 40,000 agricultural artefacts and documents jobs, crafts and trades from the past.

The centre hosts 50 schools a year, the music festival Weyfest, yearly re-enactment event Village at War and seasonal family events.

However, it said it had been surviving "hand-to-mouth" while a "crippling" electricity bill and a drop in visitors have put its future at risk.

It said closure would risk its collection being broken up or the items going to waste transfer.

Museum director Edward Fagan said expenditure was consistently outstripping income

Museum director Edward Fagan said: "The cost of paint for the window frames has tripled.

"The electric bill went from around £1,000 a month to four grand a month.

"We've been doing everything we can to bring those bills down but the expenditure was consistently outstripping the income."

Mr Fagan said £10,000 was raised in the first three hours of launching its fundraising on Monday.

"There's families who have been coming to us for 30 years to go to Santa's grotto at Christmas.

"I've been really touched with how important the place is to so many people," he said.

The site contains more than 40,000 agricultural artefacts

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