Shropshire Regimental Museum to lose £30,000 funding

But custodians of the museum at Shrewsbury Castle, have vowed to do all they can to make up the shortfall.

The cash given to Shropshire Council by the MoD pays for the wages of one member of staff and contributes to the museum's running costs.

The MoD is making similar cuts to regimental museums across to country.

But undeterred, the friends and trustees of the museum, which houses a vast collection of medals, uniforms, weaponry and hardware – much of which has been donated by the families of former soldiers from the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry – have vowed to do all they can to make up the shortfall.

They will be out and about tin rattling on the streets and in the county's supermarkets and football grounds in a bid to raise the cash.

Shropshire Council officials have indicated the cut in funding is unlikely to affect the day-to-day running of the museum.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Jenkins, chairman of the trustees of Shropshire Regimental Museum Trust, said: "We are delighted that we are receiving support from the friends and supporters in the county. We are faced with a serious cut in funding but we have got plans now to try to address this.

"We are waiting to talk with Shropshire Council to work out who is taking full responsibility for the castle, we are not quite clear if that will be the county council or the town council. Once that is decided we will be having a conversation with them.

"We are looking at our own structure to see if we can make ourselves more efficient and we are looking at ways of raising money. We are already consulting friends of the regiment (King's Shropshire Light Infantry) and Shropshire Regimental Museum about more ways we can raise money.

"We already have a number of fundraising events but we clearly need to increase on those and we are already consulting with various prominent members of the regiment.

"We are quietly confident that with imagination, hard work and support of the people of Shropshire we can approach this challenge with quiet confidence.

"We hope to raise a large sum of money to help us on our way. It is a great regimental museum, one of the best in the land.

"It contains some wonderful artefacts and is a great tribute to the soldiers of Shropshire."

Louise Cross, visitor economy manager for Shropshire Council, said:

"Following discussions with the regimental museum trust, we don't anticipate that the withdrawal of the MoD funding will have any impact on the operation or opening hours of the regimental museum."