IT has been said that life begins at 40 and Tenbury Museum is set for a new lease of life.

The museum, which is run by volunteers, held a party at the Kings Head in the town to mark its 40th birthday.

It remains one of the largely hidden treasures of the town located in the former Victoria Goff’s School.

But the museum is looking to move to a more prominent and accessible location in the town and a number of sites are being considered.

Favourite is the former fire station adjacent to the new Tesco supermarket. Talks are due to take place between the supermarket chain and the museum to consider this option.

As part of the plans for the future, a survey was held to find out the views of people in the town and visitors.

There was a unanimous view that having a museum is important for Tenbury.

People taking part in the survey were also asked what they considered to be the most important elements to a good museum.

The ability to learn about the history of the local area came top, narrowly beating having interesting objects to look at in second place. A considerable number of people also believe that access to archives and research facilities are important, as was the presence of friendly and knowledgeable staff.

People also considered interactive displays to encourage the interest of children to be important and also access to toilets.

But the key question of a new location for the museum resulted in a division of opinion, although there was a strong view that it needs to move from the former school.

The fire station near to Tesco came top of the poll with 162 votes but this was only six more than the 156 that favour the museum being located at the Pump Rooms, which is the present home of Tenbury Town Council.

Of the people that responded to the survey, more than 270 were from Tenbury and the surrounding area while 29 described themselves as visitors.

The future of the museum, which contains many items from ordinary life, has been up for debate since 2010 when it was announced that Tesco planned to move to the town.

Goff's Free School, where the museum has been since 1977, was founded by a Mr Goff who was born in Hereford, but moved to London where he made a fortune as a coal merchant.

He left money in his will to found a number of free schools in Herefordshire and surrounding counties for the education of poor children.

The one in Tenbury was built in 1819 at a cost of £150 and endowed with £50 a year. It was replaced by the present building in 1863 and continued in use as a school until 1914. Using the ‘Bell’ system, the headmaster would teach five of the best pupils, each of whom would then pass the knowledge on to five others until the whole class had received the instruction.

Later, the school was divided into senior and junior classes. The rods for the curtain can still be seen on one of the beams.

The school was run on Baptist principles, which caused considerable friction with the Church of England. Chapel services were held in the building on Sundays until the present Baptist Church was built.

Within living memory, the building was used by Tenbury School for carpentry and cooking classes.