A NEW £150,000 community library research room and archive centre has opened at Ryedale Folk Museum.

The library has been built in the grounds of the popular museum in Hutton-le-Hole, alongside the home of the Harrison Collection.

One of the main features will be a unique collection of historical books and writings by leading Ryedale author and historian John Rushton.

Tony Clark, chairman of the museum, said the project had been made possible thanks to grants from the European Union’s LEADER programme for the North York Moors and Coast area, Defra and the Rural Development Programme for England.

“It will not only be a great educational resource but a significant tourist attraction,” he said.

It was opened by Lady Feversham, the museum’s patron, who hailed it as an outstanding contribution.

“It is a marvellous centre where people can study and work and will be an invaluable asset to researchers and students from a wide area,” she said.

John Rushton, who is from Pickering, is recognised as one of the leading historians and lecturers on North Yorkshire’s history.

He was too ill to attend the opening, but sent a message saying his works would be an addition to the collections of two other renowned local historians, Raymond Hayes and Bert Frank who founded the museum.

“It will offer visitors and students easy access to historical material, worked and partly worked, for much of Yorkshire. It is every scholar’s dream that his work is later useful to others,” said John, a Workers’ Educational Association lecturer.

“North and East Yorkshire badly need the combined museum and archive that is being created by volunteers and professionals at Ryedale Folk Museum. It is widely appreciated and I am personally most grateful.”

His daughters, Geraldine, Emma and Erika, said: “Our sincere thanks for offering our dad’s research a home where it can be used by others, discovering and re-interpreting for themselves the history of North Yorkshire.”

• EVER wondered what LEADER stands for? We have. And it’s Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Economie Rurale. Now you know.