A NEW shop called the China Bazaar has opened at Pontypool Museum with the aim of raising funds for Torfaen Museum Trust and attracting new visitors to Torfaen.

Staff and volunteers have spent months gathering together china tea sets, plates, trinket boxes and candlesticks to sell to visitors and collectors of vintage and retro chinaware.

All sales will support Torfaen Museum Trust to help secure the future of Pontypool Museum and the pieces for sale have either been sourced by staff from across Wales or donated by volunteers and are not from the museums own collections.

Fundraising officer at the museum, Sassy Hicks, said: “Because of the current trend for vintage, we decided to open a new shop selling good quality old china to complement our existing tearoom which has a retro theme.

The tearoom at Pontypool Museum has been operational for two years but has recently benefitted from an updated menu, new displays of artworks and the introduction of antique chairs.

The staff and volunteers now hope that the new design and additional services will encourage people who enjoy collecting vintage objects and antiques to pay a visit.

“We are used to handling lovely objects everyday in the museum, so it’s a lot of fun for the staff and volunteers to help fundraise through selling items we can’t put in our collections,” added Deborah Wildgust, Curator.

The museum team are also encouraging local residents to consider donating any unwanted but good quality china to help raise funds.

The museum is currently campaigning to attract 1,000 new members to make up for a £19,000 cash shortfall in its budget and museum volunteers are pulling out all of the stops to attract all age groups to visit.

For more information call the museum on 01495 752036.