Registered charity South Kerrier Heritage Trust Charity Number 1151834
The Museum of Cornish Life is on behalf of Cornwall Council managed by South Kerrier Heritage Trust who are represented by eleven Trustees.
Its objectives are ‘To manage, maintain and develop The Museum of Cornish Life, Helston for the benefit of the public and to advance education in the heritage, arts and crafts of the South Kerrier area.’
Financial Information:
Since the South Kerrier Heritage Trust was formed in 2013 to look after the museum they have successfully raised over £1,000,000 through funds and grants. These awards have helped to renovate the shop, conserve the collection, improve collection care, digitise the photographic collection, create displays and engage with the community. You can review our accounts here.
From 2023-26 the trust has secured three years of funding from the Arts Council through a Cornish museum collaboration called mc7. This funding helps the museum loan objects, create displays, work with our community and employ three members of staff (Community Engagement Curator, Collections Museum Assistant and Engagement Museum Assistant).
Public Benefit:
From April 2019 to March 2020 we welcomed over 23,000 visitors to the museum. Over 2000 young people took part in formal education workshops and our memory boxes were used by over 1000 people in schools, colleges and residential homes. During the challenge of 2020 we have created 8 films about the museum, funded by the Space, that had over 150,000 views, delivered weekly Facebook Live ‘Digital Collection Tours’ and weekly ‘Museum Makes’ with over 300,000 views combined. We also delivered weekly dial-in visits for care homes following on from ‘Wish You Were Here’.
Our small staff team is supported by a dedicated group of over 60 volunteers who help with documentation, digitisation, education, cleaning, maintenance, research and welcoming our visitors. They have continued to support us during COVID-19.
Our Funders
As a charity we have been supported by a range of organisations, trusts and foundations. We would like to thank Cornwall Council, Cornwall Museums Partnership, FEAST, Cultivator, National Lottery Fund Heritage Fund and Community Fund, Art Council England, Art Fund, Tanner Trust, Little Parc Owles, Crowan Parish Council, Mawgan- Parish Council, Wendron Parish Council and Helston Town Council for their funding.