Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Campaign to keep closure-threatened Moray museum opened is backed by more than 1,000

The under threat Falconer Museum in Forres. Picture by Sandy McCook
The under threat Falconer Museum in Forres. Picture by Sandy McCook

More than 1,000 supporters have backed a petition to keep a closure-threatened Moray attraction open.

The Falconer Museum in Forres has welcomed countless visitors through its doors since it opened in the 1870s.

However, its future currently hangs in the balance after its custodian Moray Council made a decision to either shut it or pass it to another organisation as part of budget cuts.

A decision about whether it would open again was delayed in October to early next year to allow more investigations to be done to establish a new group to run it.

Now campaigners are piling pressure on the council to ensure the museum does open again in April following its regular winter shutdown.

An online petition opposing a permanent closure has been signed by nearly 1,100 people.

Zoe Archer, who launched the campaign, stressed on the website that the museum service “underpinned” the heritage of Moray.

She said: “The collection now contains more than 50,000 objects of national and international importance. It is a five-star visitor attraction at the heart of the community in Forres.

“The museum works to inspire learning for all ages and is a vital, free, rich resource for Moray’s children.

“We understand the importance of this gem of a museum and its collection and believe it should be accessible to everyone. It would be a crime to permanent close the museum.”

Options have narrowed for the Friends of the Falconer Museum campaign group to keep the attraction open.

Museums Galleries Scotland has ruled out financial support but has outlined models that have sustained facilities elsewhere, including Gairloch Museum which reopened in new premises in the Highlands this year and the charity-run Kilmartin Museum which receives funding from Argyll and Bute Council to care for its collection.

The Friends group in Forres has ruled out taking over the museum itself after a study done five years ago concluded it was unaffordable – but has pledged to support any alternative organisation that steps forward.

More than 100 people attended the final family drop-in event at the Falconer Museum, which was held shortly before Christmas.

John Barrett, chairman of the Friends group, said: “It seems that this petition comes as a result of the great success of the Christmas drop-in at the museum.”