Army Flying Museum near Andover appeals to 'Help us Fly High'
Museum says they'll lose £86,000 due to delay in re-opening
Last updated 12th Mar 2021
The Army Museum of Flying at Middle Wallop near Andover has launched an appeal to help them keeping going until mid-May.
Like many local tourist attractions they'd expected to re-open at the same time as non-essential shops just after Easter, but instead they face waiting until 17 May.
The museum says that will cost them £86,000 in lost revenue.
Joe Faretra, the museum's marketing manager, said:
"It's not been easy, we're lucky in that we do have some MoD support, but to move forward we need to be open, to keep ourselves operating we need people coming through the doors.
"We've tried, we've had online offerings including the outreach groups and we've had the lockdown lectures and we've had donations coming in off the back of them which is great but its not quite the same as when we get people in"
Joe says they had set their hopes on re-opening in mid-April:
"It was a bit of a crushing blow really because we'd weathered the storm we thought, and here we are 'we're going to come out all guns blazing', but you know it's quite a large window to not be open. "
The museum is an independent charity and whilst they benefit from MoD support, this only makes up a small percentage of their operating costs. They are dependent on ticket income, corporate hires, education visits and event income to maintain the heritage of Army aviation. Not being able to open, as they'd hoped, in April will cost the Museum £86k in lost income.
The museum is asking people to help them 'Fly High' and has listed a number of ways people can help:
Adopt an Aircraft
Buy a birthday present from our online shop
Get involved in one of our community displays
Buy your admission tickets now - they are offering discounted annual passes* for advance tickets
Full details are here: https://www.armyflying.com/support-us/afm-help-us-fly-high-appeal/