December 2008

Grant blow for Gloucestershire museum

The Jet Age Museum in Gloucesstershire may have to re-think a scheme to set up a permanent home at Gloucestershire Airport.

Volunteers have been trying to establish a new headquarters after an old Second World War hangar at the airport was pulled down in 2001.

They had hoped to take up the airport's offer to use a two-acre plot, but the £270,000 project may have to be scaled down because volunteers were hoping to get a grant of up to £100,000 from Tewkesbury Borough Council.

Members of its executive committee decided they could not justify spending that amount and offered a £27,000 grant, on condition that the museum finds the rest of the money it needs and submits a satisfactory business plan.

Museum members have raised £100,000 so the council's decision leaves them £143,000 short.

Chairman John Lewer said: "We might be able to go ahead with a smaller building, though anything we propose would have to be approved by the airport." He added that he understood why the council had not awarded the full grant.

He said the council had given the museum money in the past and he was grateful for its continued support.

Click here for full story