"INVEST in the future, preserve the past."

That's the message from staff at a museum in the centre of Wimborne hoping to persuade the business community to back its campaign for a new learning centre.

Volunteers at the Priest's House Museum on the minster town's High Street are holding a special launch evening on Friday in a bid to attract support from local businesses.

A 60-seater auditorium is among the facilities planned for the learning centre, for which organisers have already raised £500,000. Businesses will be able to hire the auditorium for private functions, and with a large enough donation, may have sections of the facility named in their honour.

Exclusive previews of new collections at the museum are another carrot with which the unpaid historians are hoping to entice the town's commercial sector.

Press officer James Webb told the Daily Echo that the museum is counting on local businesses to fill a funding gap of £500,000. "We've raised £500,000 under our own steam. The National Lottery has received our grant application for a further £500,000," he said.

"But the overall cost of the project is £1.5 million, and we're hoping businesses will be sufficiently impressed by the possible benefits to the commercial sector to come up with the remaining £500,000," he added.

The museum launched a "buy a brick" campaign in July, and urged visitors to "make their mark" in a book of support for the project for the benefit of National Lottery assessors. New, accessible storage space will allow the museum to make use of collections currently under wraps. Better-equipped spaces for visiting children are planned to entice more school visits. Glass doors are planned as an access point from the museum to the garden, which will remain open in summer to increase space still further.

For more information, contact the museum on 01202 882533.