A MEETING to establish a museum of Marlow has been hailed a success by organisers.

Nearly 100 people packed a public meeting, chaired by TV presenter Paul Burden, held at Liston Hall last Thursday evening.

The project steering group commissioned a study that recommended that to be viable the project should become a Marlow Centre.

The plan includes a study room, a museum and a lecture theatre that will be used by schools and social groups as well as historians.

At the meeting, people from many different groups voiced support for the project.

Maurice Oram, mayor of Marlow, said: "This has been thought of for a long time and I do hope that something can come of it."

Bob Strong, of Buckinghamshire County Council Museum, Libraries and Archives Service, supported the idea of a museum and reference centre on the same site.

He said: "Museums and libraries work very closely together these days. The county will be pleased to support it in any way we can."

John Evans, chairman of the Marlow Centre project steering group, said: "The Marlow Centre is where the wider community can discover the past of the place where they live."

Mr Evans said the idea of a Marlow Centre was first raised in 1995 as a millennium project but was rejected in favour of a swimming pool.

The pool was abandoned when it failed to win lottery funding.

Now history enthusiasts in Marlow have resurrected the project and hope this time it will come to fruition.

Mr Evans said that the £750,000 the project would need in the first year could be achieved.