OKEHAMPTON museum curator Maurie Webber this week said she was ?delighted? at the response to an appeal for volunteers, following an article in the Times recently.
The Museum of Dartmoor Life is currently closed while a major £600,000 refurbishment scheme takes place.
The revamped museum is due to re-open this July ? and an open meeting to try and encourage volunteers to get involved has been declared a great success by Ms Webber.
She said: ?The meeting went really well. I think we?ve got possibly eight new volunteers ? and another couple rang to say they couldn?t make it to the meeting but would certainly like to be involved. I?m really very pleased, it was a good evening.?
Those who went to the meeting at the White Hart also had a sneak preview of the museum, which is being refurbished thanks to funding from the National Lottery, Objective 2?s Investing in Rural Tourism programme and smaller grants from a range of other agencies, including the borough and town council and Okehampton Non-Ecclesiastical Trust.
The improvements include a a new state of the art exhibition gallery, new specifically equipped public research room, improved access to all parts of the building, a lift, up-to-date security and fire system, central heating and provision of toilets for staff and visitors.
?Looking at it at this stage you tend to think is it all going to be ready in time, but I?m sure it will be.?
Ms Webber said most of the collection was due to be moved back to the museum from storage this week.
?We?ll be unpacking boxes and starting to put things into position and no doubt beginning to realise what we can?t fit in.
?We?ve lost some space with the lift and the heating, which we didn?t have before, but it?s going to look great,? she said.
??The courtyard is having a make-over as well, which we?re working on at the moment.?
Great care has been taken during the refurbishment to retain the character of the museum, which is housed in an old agricultural mill, built in 1811.
The museum is due to re-open on July 19.