TWO East Lancashire textile museums are celebrating after receiving an £80,000 government windfall to improve their collections and make them more accessible to the public.

The money will be channelled through the Lancashire County Museum Service to benefit Helmshore Textile Museums and the Queen Street Mill Museum, Burnley. The cash will enable both facilities to improve access to collections designated as of importance and it will also enhance the interpretation of the collections, particularly to the development of Outreach workshops in East Lancashire.

Details planning, in consultation with the Lancashire County Records Office and local libraries will be carried out to help tailor learning packages to use the needs.

The cash is part of £5.2million-worth of grants to 49 of the country's finest non-national museums and galleries.

Announcing the money, Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone said: "Our museums, and the designated collections in particular, are among the best in the world.

"We are right to be proud of them and right to do everything we can to make them as open and accessible as possible.

"These grants will benefit those museums who have put forward imaginative and innovative schemes to boost access."