AN iconic museum in the heart of Malmesbury will be entering an exciting new phase of its development.

The Friends of Athelstan Museum (FOAM) have been fundraising to buy the Moravian Church, situated behind the museum in the town hall, to help expand its capacity.

The team were initially outbid on the building despite raising more than £100,000 in pledges last summer.

The pledges were subsequently not called in and so FOAM set about gathering donations, so that when the opportunity arose to buy the building once again, they would be prepared.

After tireless fundraising efforts the dream has finally become a reality, and the group are buying the building from the developers who previously outbid them.

Roger Griffin is a former chairman of FOAM and was heavily involved in the previous bid to buy the church.

As a current member of the group he described the move as a “most exciting and a tremendous opportunity for the museum”.

“We have received some very generous donations which have enabled us to buy the church,” he said. “Large numbers of our members and supporters have pledged funds which will be used to convert the building for the purposes of the museum and then to equip it.

“This is wonderful news and FOAM is most grateful.”

The plan for the Moravian Church is for it to be used as a space to expand the educational capacity of Athelstan Museum.

A number of schools bring classes to the museum but, due to tight schools budgets, many only do so when they can bring a full bus, meaning the current museum has struggled to meet demand.

“With this new facility we shall be able to expand our activities. Most importantly we shall be able to offer much better facilities for education,” continued Roger.

“We will finally have space for them and should be able to take more groups in.

“Schools increasingly come by bus, but don’t like half empty bus because of the cost.

“Also adult education is a big thing nowadays. We intend to have good facilities for lectures and classes and these will be made available to other groups as well.

“We shall be able to display many more objects and larger ones too, as well as housing travelling exhibitions. We hope once the Moravian Church is converted we shall be able to improve our display space at the museum in the town hall.”

Malmesbury town clerk, Jeff Penfold, said the purchase of the Moravian Church was “fantastic news” for the town.

“It can’t be anything but positive,” he said. “The museum is a good attraction and it brings a lot of people into the town.

“They’ve worked so hard to get hold of that particular property which will enable them to extend and widen the scope of their activities.

“The town council is fully supportive of the museum and it’s something that’s reciprocated.”

For more information on Athelstan Museum visit athelstanmuseum.org.uk