Volunteers at the heart of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust museums

Raising money for whatever causes you support remains an essential and no getting away from that.

But rarely is it a successful operation without passion. A real commitment and devotion to the goal ahead are part of the deal.

And that is exactly the kind of motivation we see down at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in Coalbrookdale, from where the 10 museums under its wing are cared for.

They all care deeply about the whole complex, its place in the World Heritage Site, its history and honouring all who have gone before, along with the vision which inspired first a few and now so many to tell the Industrial Revolution story in this unique and amazing way.

And the simple message from all involved is this: “The year 2017 is a fantastic 50th anniversary year for us at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Come and help us celebrate.”

It is a message echoed by the chairman of the new Foundation Committee, the fundraising arm at the museum.

Rupert Kenyon-Slaney said: “Our aim is to set about raising a war chest for the museum so that it can remain relevant and attract lots of visitors, help with the education of our young people, care for its heritage and really go from strength to strength.”

This amazing success story over the past half a century stands testament to what can be achieved from the dereliction of history to the half a million visitors the complex attracts every year.

Rupert says: “In that time, it has gone from nothing to what you see now with 70,000 schoolchildren visiting the museum last year on organised visits. We want people to return and to come back regularly. Indeed we know 50 per cent have previously enjoyed a visit.”

Which means of course an on-going investment not just in money but in time, commitment, ideas and perhaps most of all, the vision to carry on unveiling, reliving and telling the most amazing story down here in the Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

And another reason why people like Rupert Kenyon-Slaney are so needed to carry on telling that story.

From the site of the Museum of Iron itself, visitors look directly across the spacious car park to the Old Furnace in its futuristic, triangular shaped building.

And this, to Rupert, should surely be the focus for great celebrations. Because it is where Abraham Darby 1 perfected the smelting of iron with coke instead of with charcoal. The genesis of a Darby dynasty and one which went on to write its own history.

In 1959 the Allied Ironfounders, successors to the Coalbrookdale Company, had the Old Furnace site excavated to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Darby's first coke smelting.

This led to a small Coalbrookdale Museum, which in 1970 became part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust as the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Grade 11 listed.

While in 2014, the Old Furnace was the 100th recipient of the Engineering Heritage Award given by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

It was indeed a wow moment. And to those who care for this whole precious inheritance today, an inspiration for continuing the work done by so many down the years of the iron industry and now, at the 21st century museum, the story is told to other generations.

Enginuity, the National Design and Technology centre, is also on this site, an absorbing delight for all ages with ambitious plans for future expansion.

The Coalbrookdale Master Plan is under way. And if changes are ahead for so much of the Coalbrookdale museum complex, they are only those which enhance and add untold value to the story.

Two things of which they are not short are vision and volunteers. Rupert said: “We have a huge number of volunteers. They really bring all these things to life. It is also incredibly important because it brings people together. The museum has also been very forward thinking and so weddings and other events also take place here, the management team is to be congratulated.”

It is certainly all a far cry from those days when the living story of this so important area of the Gorge could have pretty well disappeared.

Rupert added: “What we want to do, is to link more of the sites in people’s minds so that visitors don’t just stop at the Iron Bridge - which of course they all know - take a picture and then drive away.”

A commitment to everything which is being planned over the next decade or so means that more people can be a real part of it all.

And what is available to see is just endless. Who would have thought, for instance, that Thomas Telford’s diaries are in the museum archives?

But it all costs. And contributions from trusts and other sources as well as visitors are generous, there is never quite enough for the ‘breathe easy’ factor.

Rupert explained: “We also have a new patrons scheme set up at £250 a year which is proving popular. And we hope to encourage others.

“This year is all about celebrating the achievements of the past 50 years and our hopes for the next.”