Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond has been thanked by a local open-air museum after the attraction secured £285,000 from the government to help it remain open.
Butser Ancient Farm in Chalton has received the cash from the £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund designed to help museums and attractions cope with covid and adjust their facilities.
Flick wrote to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in support of the farm’s bid and she has also visited.
The money will now allow the farm, which features reconstructions of prehistoric, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon buildings, to continue to welcome schools and visitors. It will also help it set up online educational opportunities so it can operate during the pandemic.
The farm’s director Maureen Page said the money was “wonderful news”.
“We’d like to thank Flick so much for all her help and support with this. We are all hoping the coronavirus situation will improve over the next few months but no one knows and we want to be able to offer as many opportunities for learning as possible, whether that is for school pupils, students, academics or other interested members of the public.”
Flick added she was thrilled the farm was now looking forward to a secure future.
“This is absolutely great news and it means Butser Ancient Farm will remain open for business and educate schoolchildren, visitors and local people all about our rural history either on the ground or online.
“The Cultural Recovery Fund is designed to help places just like this survive the pandemic and then be able to flourish once restrictions are lifted.
“It is right the government is using our money to safeguard these cultural assets so we can all enjoy and learn from them in the future.”
