OKEHAMPTON is celebrating its second cash windfall from the Heritage Lottery Fund in just over a year — £261,000 is on its way to the Museum of Dartmoor Life.

The money is a huge boost for the museum, which has had no major works in ten years, but it also signals the start of the regeneration of Okehampton following the devastation of the foot and mouth crisis.

A full refurbishment, a new 'state of the art' gallery which will attract a wide range of exhibitions, improved access, new collections and interactive displays are just some of the plans in the pipeline for the museum, which was founded 25 years ago.

Staff, trustees and volunteers, who have been on tenterhooks waiting for news on the bid they submitted 12 months ago, are overjoyed at the announcement.

'It fantastic news,' said curator Maurie Webber. 'This is the best thing to happen to the museum and opens up all sorts of wonderful opportunities for us in terms of education, research and attracting new visitors.

Maurie said the money was doubly important because the project would help to bring tourists back to Okehampton in the wake of foot and mouth.

'We now have to set about the task of getting the match-funding but we already have £25,000 from West Devon Borough Council and hope to get support from Dartmoor National Park, English Heritage, Objective Two and the South West Regional Development Agency,' she said.

The installation of a lift and a loop system for the blind will open up new markets for the museum and there will be a plethora of new displays such as a Bronze Age hut which visitors can go in and explore.

The museum has been very pro-active recently with its after-school study project, the wheels of discovery interactive exhibition, which brings history alive, and the appointment of a research co-ordinator — but space and access have always been a bit of a problem.

Maurie explained that reserved collections which had been stored in a cupboard because of a lack of space could now come out into the open for everyone to see.

'There is so much going to be happening I can hardly believe it,' added the curator, who hopes to see work completed a year from now.

'This grant is a great credit to all the trustees who have done such a terrific job in the past in keeping the museum going. They should be very proud and now we can go forward into the 21st Century with great optimism.'

She added that the ethos and character of the museum, which visitors loved so much, would remain and the hands-on approach would be expanded.

Chairman of the Dartmoor Museum Association Rose Young, whose late husband, John, was the founder of the museum, said it was a wonderful 25th anniversary present.

'John would be so excited if he was around now — this museum is absolutely unique and hopefully the work will result in many more people coming to see just how special it is.

'The amount of lottery grants being given out have reduced so I think we are very lucky.'

Mayor of Okehampton Christine Marsh, who is a trustee of the museum, said from something which started as a small collection of farm implements in a back room with a typewriter the museum had been a great success story.

'It is fantastic for Okehampton and the result of a lot of hard work,' she said. 'We have so much to look forward to — an amazing amount of positive things are happening in Okehampton right now.'

A Heritage Lottery grant of £311,000 was awarded to Okehampton Town Council in November last year for the Simmons Park restoration project.