Museums get nearly £100,000 lotto grants

Weymouth's Nothe Fort received £48,000 and the Keep in Dorchester was awarded £49,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The grant will be put towards audio-visual features at the Nothe.

It will also enable the attraction to provide a small cinema-lecture room with facilities for slide shows and other forms of computer-aided techniques.

Work on the project will start this summer. Staff hope it will improve the presentation of displays to enable visitors to gain a greater understanding of the fort and the impact of military conflict on those who were garrisoned in the fort, as well as the impact on the people of Weymouth and Portland.

The cash boost will also ensure that the experience of visiting the Nothe Fort is educational and enjoyable for a wide range of visitors.

Part of this appeal will see a discovery trail incorporated into the scheme to allow children to appreciate the fort.

The fort's new director David Joy said: "With the Heritage Lottery Fund grant which we received for the restoration and safety work on the fort completed within budget and within time, this new grant will enable us to upgrade our displays and provides an exciting opportunity for us to take advantage of modern technology."

The grant of £49,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund's Your Heritage scheme will help Dorchester's Keep Museum preserve the history of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and make it available to a wider audience than ever before.

Curator Charles Cooper said: "The award will allow the museum to create new gallery displays, an online archive and outreach materials.

"The work, which will start shortly, will recognise the contribution and sacrifice made by the regiment over the last 50 years, leading up to the transition of the county regiments into the Rifles in February 2007."

He added: "On behalf of the trustees, we are delighted the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled the museum to better present this period of modern military heritage in the form of a new gallery."