A small army of volunteers kept Ledbury's Heritage Centre open last year, after Herefordshire Council pulled the plug on funding, and newly released figures reveal how very well they did.

In 2013, when Herefordshire Council was funding the centre, in Church Lane, there were 22,000 adult visitors and 2000 children.

In 2014, the year when the The Ledbury and District Civic Society took on a licence to run the centre with volunteers, to prevent in from closing, more than 22,000 adults visitors were once again recorded, and 1,600 children.

Heritage Centre spokesperson, Sally Holliday said: "It was a very successful year. We are, of course, only able to open seven days a week throughout the tourist season, because of the commitment and enthusiasm of our volunteers, who number 40.

"We look forward to the 2015 season."

More volunteers will be welcomed.

The half-timbered centre, in Church Lane, will open again at the start of April and remain open until the end of October.

Improvements to lighting and displays are being planned, and there will be an updated publicity leaflet for the season.

There are also plans for a "more appropriate" wooden sign for the centre, to replace a metal one.

Visitors to the building certainly appreciated the attraction, including the huge impressive 'smoking' chimney, which people can inspect by standing beneath it and looking up.

Local notables are represented in the current displays, including John Masefield, the former poet laureate, who grew up in Ledbury; and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, who spent her early years at Hope End, near Wellington Heath.

A main attraction is the window in the floor, giving sight of a dried-up watercourse ten feet below.

It is believed that the building was used, at different times, as a Guild Hall, a school and a tenement block.

It may also have been used as a pin factory and a drill hall

One recent comment in the visitors' book reads: "This must be one of the main attractions of the town. The building is spectacular. Thanks for keeping it open for us."