At one point, the future looked bleak for the Yorkshire Air Museum.
The aviation attraction in Elvington lost 90% of its income during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.
Its survival hung in the balance, until it was awarded emergency funding from the National Heritage Lottery Funding, and an Arts Council Recovery Grant.
Since then the fortunes of the museum have really taken off.
It welcomed around 72,000 people through its gates last year, a rise of 12,000 on the previous 12 months.
The museum’s marketing and communications manager Jerry Ibbotson said: “We had just over 60,000 visitors in 2022, which was itself a really great way to come back after Covid.
“But in 2023 that figure has jumped to 72,000 people, which broke not only the levels of recent years but also smashed the targets we’d set ourselves.”
Last year the museum staged a season-long exhibition on the Cold War, ‘Minutes to Midnight’, with a freshly repainted RAF Buccaneer jet as its centrepiece.
The attraction also open its first permanent children’s playground, and took delivery of a new aircraft, a Sepecat Jaguar jet kindly donated by the RAF.
This looks like being another busy year. And the museum will take delivery of another new exhibit, the Avro Shackleton from Coventry Airport.
“This is being dismantled and will come to us in pieces and take several months to reassemble. It will be a great addition to our collection,” Jerry said.
“With the great results from last year, the bar is set very high for 2024 but we’re all working hard to do even greater things over the next 12 months.”
Chair of trustees Rachel Semlyen paid tribute to the museum team.
“Looking ahead there’s much more to come but nothing could have been achieved without the commitment, passion and hard work of all our staff and volunteers.
“I want to wish all our supporters a very happy and successful new year and to thank you so much for your interest, encouragement and enthusiasm for what we do at the museum to commemorate service, celebrate innovation and inspire present and future generations.”
Find out what’s coming up this year at the Yorkshire Air Museum website.