A heritage museum in Tilford has been saved from closure after supporters raised £150,000 to keep its gates open in just three months.

Hallowe’en was a scary prospect for the Rural Life Living Museum as October 31 was the fundraising deadline.

The spectre of closure had loomed large due to the combination of increased costs, a drop in visitor numbers because of poor weather and the cost-of-living crisis, and decreasing cash reserves.

Failure could have ended half a century of heritage but the public responded magnificently to their request for a helping hand.

“When we launched the campaign took we took £10,000 in donations in three hours,” said its relieved director, Ed Fagan, who is confident a similar request won’t be needed in the future.

“We did £50,000 in three weeks and we thought at that point it might be possible to reach the target. It showed us people really do care about this museum quite deeply.”

The £150,000 was split into three: A third was needed to fix the cash flow with £50,000 being earmarked to refill the cash reserves.

The final £50,000 is “capital for development” and will help with things like employer costs, marketing and developing the museum’s patron scheme. And speaking of patrons, there’s a nice show of appreciation for donors – with one anonymous supporter settling the bill.

Mr Fagan added: “It doesn’t matter if they expressed support as a fiver, tenner or £20 – there’s 2,500 individuals that contributed to our appeal and they will all be patrons for the first year.”

“In its 50 years the museum has never asked for large scale help from the public,” added Ed.

“We decided in being in this position that it was worth doing. Sure enough people helped because they clearly value this place.”