VISITORS to Fordingbridge Museum will receive a warm welcome tomorrow as it opens for the summer.

Thanks to the Friends of Fordingbridge Museum, the concrete surface has been covered in carpet.

The Friends are volunteers who help with displays, stewarding and fundraising.

Friends chairman Jon Ingham said: “The concrete floor was cold and did not look very pleasing. The new carpet looks better and certainly makes the atmosphere much cosier.

“It is a testament to the fundraising energy of the Friends that we can afford to make the museum more comfortable.”

As well as the new carpet, the wooden floor in the entrance hall has been sanded and sealed thanks again to a grant from the Friends.

Helen Tague, who was Fordingbridge town clerk for 26 years, is pictured cleaning the new carpet with a Victorian carpet cleaner from the museum. “This is hard work.” she said.

“If this is what the Victorians had to put up with I would choose a modern cleaner any day!”

The museum is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm. It is closed on Sundays. Admission is free.