Culture Recovery Fund

Laura Wright, CEO:

We are delighted to be awarded £860,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund to support the museum over the next 6 months. This funding is crucial for the museum to continue delivering our award-winning accessible visitor experience, our popular learning and access programmes, and to share the important stories of human connection from our unique collections and archive.

The funding ensures that we can put inclusion at the heart of the museum’s reopening plans. Along with opening to the public 4 days a week, we will work with our local communities to deliver our inclusion programming. We are thrilled and grateful to be able to work in partnership with our audiences again to adapt the museum to this ‘new normal’ and ensure we are delivering for everyone.

The postal service has been a lifeline for communities across the country during the pandemic. We feel sure that visitors will enjoy exploring its past, discovering its fascinating heritage through Mail Rail and understanding its impact on today’s world, now more than ever.

Thank you to Arts Council England and DCMS for this lifeline, it is a huge vote of confidence in The Postal Museum’s future. We look forward to welcoming our visitors back again on 29th October.

The museum has lost millions of pounds of income since closure but has made significant savings through cost saving measures including the Job Retention Scheme, support from the public and an emergency grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund received in July. The Culture Recovery Fund grant shores up the museum for the next six months, so we can continue to deliver well beyond April 2021.

The Postal Museum closed to the public on 18 March and is opening on 29 October 2020.

Support for The Postal Museum

We are grateful for the continued support Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd, as well as our Members, Patrons and all those who have generously donated to the museum since closure.