Support the Trust
The museum is free and the Lilac Fair costs nothing to attend. Both are paid for by our members, our volunteers, the fair itself and the people who give.
The statue appeal. We need £7,260 towards the conservation of the statue in the Market Square, alongside a heritage grant of £28,500 and £6,000 the trustees have set aside. Donations can be made at the museum desk or in the box by the statue on event days, and every pound will go to the work on the statue.
Give at the museum
The donation box by the museum door raised £11,206 last year, more than any other single source of donations. You can also give by card at the desk, any amount, and ask for a Gift Aid declaration if you are a UK taxpayer: Gift Aid adds 25p to every £1 at no cost to you.
We do not take donations online or by text, and we never telephone people to ask for money. If you are asked for money in the Trust’s name by anyone other than a volunteer at the museum or at one of our events, please tell us.
Become a member
From £18 a year. Members receive The Crest three times a year, a vote at the annual general meeting, and a reserved bottle of the cordial each May. Membership.
Volunteer
About ninety volunteers run the front desk, lead walks, catalogue the archive, teach schools, make the cordial and put on the fair. Volunteering.
Leave a gift in your will
Gifts in wills have paid for some of the Trust’s most lasting work: the Bridge Fund, which looks after the flood marks, was a legacy of 1994, and a legacy of £12,500 in 2025–26 helped us through a year of repairs. If you are thinking of leaving a gift to the Trust, our registered name is The Vengerberg Trust, registered charity number 1314072. The Chair would be glad to talk to you in confidence; please write to him at the museum.
Sponsor the Lilac Fair
Local businesses sponsor the fair’s music, the procession and the children’s crowns, and their names appear in the fair programme and on the banner in the Market Square. Please write to the Lilac Fair committee at lilacfair@vengerberg.org.
Give objects or photographs
If you have something you think belongs in the museum, please speak to the Curator before bringing it in. See Collection highlights.