CAMPAIGNERS who are still hoping to reopen a museum dedicated to the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) have started crowd funding to raise £3,000.

The campaign follows the closure of the DLI Museum, in Durham, in 2016, and the relocation of the collection to a unit in Spennymoor, as well as the opening of an exhibition about the regiment at Palace Green, in Durham.

The Faithful Durhams, a group set up to campaign against the closure, is in talks with Durham County Council about their ambitions for the collection.

Member Diane Inglis said: “We are still campaigning to try and get everything back under one roof.

“We want people to know we are still here and keep our campaign in the public eye.”

She added that the money would be used to advertise the campaign as well as to seek legal and political advice.

Steve Howell, the council’s head of culture, said: “We appreciate that there are a number of views around how best to manage such an important part of our heritage and that is why we regularly meet with representatives of the DLI community including the DLI Association, Friends and Trustees.

“The Faithful Durhams have been invited to attend that forum and we are pleased that they now seem willing to engage and discuss their views with us and representatives of the former regiment.

“Having all of the collection’s items in one place – which is the Faithful group’s aim - would be very unusual as historic collections often have items in separate stores and exhibitions and that is how it has been for the DLI collection for decades.”

The council closed the museum because it said the building at Aykley Heads was expensive to run and had run out of storage space.

Since then, most of the collection has been kept at a specialist facility in Sevenhills, near Spennymoor, where it can be seen by appointment, while the medal collection is on loan to Durham University. It is kept at Palace Green Library, which is also home to a free exhibition about the regiment.

Mr Howell said: “We want the best for the collection, and will continue to work to preserve the memory of our County’s great regiment and share its story to the wide audience it deserves.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/diane-ron to find out more.