THE Torfaen Museum Trust has received funding of more than £4,000 thanks to players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

The trust which is based at the Pontypool museum has received £4,167 via a Postcode Community Trust grant which will enable the facilities and equipment in the museum’s local studies library and archive to be updated and upgraded.

This includes digital access to records and to ‘up skill’ existing and new volunteers within the team to fulfil the digitization to preserve their unique collections.

The trust is a local charity which has been safeguarding and collecting Torfaen’s art, historical objects and cultural artefacts on behalf of the public, at its Pontypool Museum site since 1978. Holding thousands of old maps, photographs, documents and books, the museum’s local studies library and archive in Pontypool Museum is a treasure trove of items relating to the history and culture of the Eastern Valley of south Wales.

Popular with people researching the area, the museum’s archives and library are maintained and managed by a strong core of volunteers, who in 2014 were the Welsh winners of the Marsh Award for volunteering.

Museum curator Deborah Wildgust said: “Despite drastic cuts in our core funding, this Postcode Community Trust grant ensures we are able to carry out our plans to take the Torfaen Collections into the (digitised) future.”

The Postcode Community Trust exists to fund community groups and charitable organisations through a variety of grant giving programmes. It relies solely on funding from the proceeds of ticket sales from People’s Postcode Lottery.

When you sign up to play People’s Postcode Lottery, your postcode is your ticket. A minimum of 27.5 per cent goes directly to charities across Great Britain and internationally. For more information visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/society