A local museum has received £29,000 from the National Lottery to support it through the pandemic.

The Army Flying Museum, based in Middle Wallop, received the grant to support the operating costs of its buildings and website, as well as providing for its outreach work.

This includes its call for woollen medals to commemorate Remembrance Day, as well as its wildly successful lockdown lectures, which are now into their second season.

These lectures have reached audiences around the world with tens of thousands viewing their work. The first two series have been so successful that a third is being planned.

Lucy Johnson, Army Flying Museum chief executive, said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now continue our hugely popular online lectures, which have kept us engaged with thousands of people while they may have otherwise felt quite isolated.

“Now we have reopened, with restrictions and guidelines in place, it’s important that we continue to forge ahead with this broad offering to a much wider audience that otherwise wouldn’t know about us or the story of Army flying that we tell.

“We’re grateful that The National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”

The £29,000 grant was part of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund, which made £50million available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.

“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as the Army Flying Museum during this uncertain time.”