Helston Museum has become the first ever winner of an award for innovation at the new Cornwall Heritage Awards.

The museum won the award for setting up a pop-up cafe as a solution to visitor demand and also raising more income to help with running costs, as it relies on the donations of visitors to stay open for the public.

Not only did Helston Museum receive a trophy but it was also presented with a cash prize of £500 to help support any work or projects they wish to develop, granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Rosie Kliskey, assistant museum curator at the museum, said: “We are thrilled to have won this award praising us for our innovative new pop-up café, which has helped us to raise more money for the museum as well as providing a new service for our visitors. We decided to give the idea a go and it has paid off tremendously.

“We were also highly commended for the Heritage Heroes award for the fantastic work that our education team, who are all volunteers, have achieved this year.”

The Cornwall Heritage Awards have been set up to recognise the work and achievements of museums and heritage organisations, as well as give the many unsung heroes – the volunteers - their moment in the spotlight.

The awards have been organised by South West Museum Development in collaboration with Cornwall Museums Partnership, and were made possible by investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Cornwall Museum Development officer Bryony Robin said: “There are more than 70 museums in Cornwall, each offering something unique and special and providing fantastic services for their communities and achieving high standards.

“Recognising the excellence within these diverse heritage organisations, we believe there is a lot we can learn from each other and have organised the Cornwall Heritage Awards to reward the wonderful work they do, and to share their achievements.

“We have been utterly delighted with the quality of the applications and nominations we received for this year’s awards and are already looking forward to discovering more examples of brilliant work next year.”