Chairman of the Wootton Bassett Historical Society, Jesse James, is urging residents to step forward and take responsibility for the town's museum before it is too late.

Mr James, 74, of Englefield, says the museum needs a secretary for a new working group responsible for ambitious development plans for which funding already exists.

He said: "The museum has got into a bad state. It needs help there's a very large photo display which is all deteriorating and they're very valuable because they're Bassett history."

The museum, located in the town hall, was set up by Allan Stebbens in 1971 and contains the town's regalia including a ceremonial staff dated 1678, two 17th century silver maces, the town stocks as well as an oak ducking stool used to punish gossiping women.

The town hall has been owned and maintained by Wootton Bassett Town Council since it became the nominated trustee of the Town Trust in February 2003.

The organisation and administration of the museum has been carried out on behalf of the Town Trust by the Wootton Bassett Historical Society, with additional help from local councillors and volunteers.

Treasurer and secretary of the Historical Society, Chris Dunn, 58, of Down View, said: "When it started 30 odd years ago it was a good little museum but over the years people have retired or moved on and people lose enthusiasm.

"What we need is a sub committee of the Town Trust to act as a development group to attract grant funding."

At a meeting last week the Town Trust allocated £6,000 for works on the town hall as match funding for a further £6,000 offered by North Wiltshire District Council. The Trust also allocated £5,000 for a museum development fund to attract further funding from sources such as the Countryside Agency.

Mr Dunn, who has indexed and recorded much of the museum's photographic collection, has already drawn up the details for possible development plans, which include a website, cd-rom, digitisation of photos and a greater focus on the interests of children.

He said: "We've got to be able to compete with other museums like Calne, Chippenham and Swindon. There's a lot that could be done with the money that could be coming to us.

"The ideas are there, what we need now is some solid people behind us to back it up. The problem is that it's always the same people who are running all the societies and committees and therefore they all have time constraints.

"What we want is the people who aren't up to their eyes to step forward and take it on."

Mr James, who will soon be standing down from his position on the Historical Society, said: "The most important person we need is a secretary who can send out letters and attract grant funding.

"Initially we might have two or three inaugural meetings to get it up and running but then there's no need to have lots of meetings. It may only need one a year. But if we don't act on this then it's just going to carry on and nothing is going to happen."

Yesterday Mr James took a group of members from the Town Trust to visit Chippenham Museum and see how development plans could be carried out.

Mr James can be contacted on (01793) 852826 and the Town Trust can be contacted on (01793) 850222.