DOZENS turned up to a County Durham museum to celebrate a Fund which saved it from closure this month.

The Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, was threatened with closure in 2000 when it hit financial crisis as it prepared to move from council control to charitable status.

However, it was saved by the work of Chris Smith, who helped secure its future when Secretary of State for Culture.

And Lord Smith, now chairman of the Art Fund, returned to the museum to host a lunch event to celebrate 80 years of support from the Fund on March 17.

The Art Fund’s support for the museum goes back as far as 1937, while Lord Smith shared his vision for the future of museums at the event.

During his speech he said he saw a function for museums as “stores of our collective memory”, especially at a time of confusion about national identity.

Elizabeth Conran, who was director of the Bowes Museum at the time, also confirmed the key part Chris Smith had played in its survival.