TRUSTEES at Earby's Lead Mining Museum were celebrating this week after hearing that they had been offered enough money to pay for vital restoration work to be done on the building.

Pendle Council agreed to give £16,500 to take them up to their target of £30,000, which they had to collect in order to receive a £75,000 grant from the English Heritage.

The target was also reached through a £4,000 grant from Pendle council's tourism budget, £2,000 from the West Craven committee and £3,000 from Earby Parish Council, as well as donations from local businesses and individuals.

The work, which includes the rebuilding of the Grade Two listed building's roof, is expected to cost £105,000 and it is hoped it will be started in October.

A plaque containing all the names of people who made the refurbishment possible will be put up inside the museum.

The trustees had until the end of 2001 to raise the money and if the work on the Old Grammar School could not have been funded the group might have had to move premises.

The Museum of Yorkshire Dales Lead Mining was formed in 1971 by the Earby Pot Hole Club. The building they moved in to was founded in 1591 by the will of a wealthy landowner Robert Windle and is still owned by the Robert Windle Foundation.

It now houses a collection of artefacts and includes a working model of a smelting mill, a steam stamp for crushing lead and a selection of miners personal effects.

Trustee Morris Horsfield said he was "over the moon".

He said: "We got on to Councillor Rosemary Carroll about funding and she pushed very hard for us.

"She had a meeting with all three council leaders."

The group will be raising more money to put in a second floor.