Maidstone Museum has been awarded a grant of nearly £2 million.

The grant, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, will be confirmed at a press conference later today at the museum in St Faith's Street, Maidstone.

The money will go towards a project to extend the museum and improve facitilities.

Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for South East England, Stuart McLeod, said: “This project will help the museum go from strength to strength, enabling it to put much more of its extensive collection on public display. It will also allow an increase in its learning facilities which are currently operating at full capacity.”

KM Group President Edwin Boorman is chairman of the fund raising appeal.