NEW committee member Mike Menhenitt has been appointed as the first media and public relations officer of Wellington Local History and Museum Society.

Mr Menhenitt moved to the town last summer to be closer to his family and previously carried out the same press officer role for several years in Exmouth Museum.

He is married to Sara, and his children and grandchildren live in Wellington.

Mr Menhenitt is a local historian and published author and writes historical articles and also pens features for a number of classic car magazines.

Responsibility now falls on him to keep as many local people as possible informed of museum and local history society activities.

The charity is run by a small team of dedicated volunteers and is funded by membership subscriptions, donations, events, and the sale of books, leaflets, and souvenirs.

Society volunteers have been busy during the winter months cataloguing items, cleaning, and sorting new exhibits for the museum, in Fore Street, which reopens on April 7.

The local history society has held an active winter programme with meetings and presentations.

Its next meeting will be on Thursday, February 27, when there will be a talk by Dr Adrian Webb on Somerset maps and charts through the ages.

The charity is currently chaired by Wellington town Cllr Mark Lithgow, who is a former mayor, with former museum chairman of seven years Paddy Gray now serving as vice-chairman.

The society also runs an outreach programme interacting with a range of local organisations, and its regular public talks are presented in Wellington Prep School Hall, in South Street.

The museum, housed in the historic former The Squirrel coaching inn, opened 42 years ago and has thousands of exhibits and attracts about 2,500 visitors annually.

Anybody who wants to contact Mr Menhenitt should email him at [email protected].