Mayor of Okehampton Allenton Fisher presented the Museum of Dartmoor Life with a cheque for thousands of pounds last week in a short ceremony outside the museum premises.

Museum volunteers, along with manager Kristy Turner, attended the event to witness Cllr Fisher hand over a cheque for £5,000 which, he said, would allow the museum to continue the great work it does.

Kristy Turner said: ‘We are very grateful to the council for their continued support for the museum and tourist information. Without their support we could not continue. We are aware that times are difficult for everybody at the moment.

‘We know there are a lot of new families and we would love to meet them. We hope they will bring their children down to enjoy this amazing community asset.’

The Museum of Dartmoor Life has played an important role in the community for many years and, most recently, has been working closely with the town council to produce a timeline of the town, which was on show at the Party in the Park over the weekend.

The Museum of Dartmoor Life in Okehampton officially opened for the 2023 season in March offering a host of different exhibitions.

This year the museum has been hosting the Lydford Coins, originally minted in Lydford in the 900s and used to pay off the Vikings who took them back to Scandinavia.

The museum has also put on its ‘Dyeing on Dartmoor’ exhibition which explores the history of cloth dyeing on Dartmoor and the process of traditional cloth-making. Funded by the Royal Society, the exhibition includes cloth dyed by the curators themselves using traditional methods, used by Bronze Age people, from flora and fauna found on Dartmoor such as nettles, heather, oak and hawthorn.

The museum, which is located on Fore Street, has also been the home of the Destination Dartmoor art exhibition, made in collaboration with Cornwall-based creative arts organisation Mayes Creative, which celebrates the Dartmoor Line heritage.

For more information about the museum visit https://www.dartmoorlife.org.uk/.