D-Day Museum lands £4m HLF grant - Museums Association

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D-Day Museum lands £4m HLF grant

Redevelopment project needs £170,000 to meet target
Portsmouth City Council has been awarded £4m by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards redevelopment of its D-Day Museum.

The museum is now £170,000 short of its £4.9m target.

Jane Mee, the director of the project for Portsmouth City Council, said that the transformation of the museum would create a “must-see” attraction.

The museum will close in October 2016 and reopen in late 2017.

Mee said as well as updating the museum’s fabric and displays, funding would be used to increase the number of activities from about half a dozen a year to over 100.

She added that the museum wanted to tell the story of D-Day in a way that meets the requirements of 21st-century audiences. “It was a very inclusive and collaborative historical event and we feel that the museum should be likewise,” she said. “It has a relevance today, with the conflicts that we’re currently involved in. The veterans want us to keep the story alive.”

Portsmouth City Council has committed £378,000 to the capital costs of the project and will meet the expected £150,000 increase in running costs over the first five years.

The campaign has received £600,000 from government Libor funds, as well as funding from Victorious Festival and the Dulverton Trust. It has raised over £20,000 through small donations.

The City Council has submitted grant applications to help generate the remainder of the match funding target.


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