A grant of £20,000 has been given to the Museum of East Anglian Life to help get people into work.

From next month the museum, in Stowmarket, will work to improve people’s skills and offer training with the aim of helping out-of-work individuals find employment.

John Lanagan, the site’s chief executive, said he was “absolutely delighted” by the news.

“Over the years we have developed a variety of successful training and skills development courses enabling people to get into paid employment and some of our trainees stay with us either as volunteers or staff so we must be doing something right,” he said.

“We are grateful to our learning partners and to our new local business partners too who will be providing ‘taster’ work opportunities as part of the new ‘Work To Achieve’ project.

“We believe this project will benefit local people and local business too; it’s great news for Stowmarket and Mid Suffolk and we are look forward to working with our new trainees in the New Year.”

Becky Sutton, 26, found work with the museum, following the completion of a course in 2011. After her three-month heritage taster course she became a part-time museum assistant.

Since then she has joined Mid Suffolk and Babergh district councils as a communities officer.

She said: “The opportunity to develop skills such as basket weaving, traditional printing and working heavy horses not only was a truly enjoyable experience, but made me realise I want to be part of keeping traditions alive for future generations to see, as they are dying out.”

The money for the museum came from the Local Enterprise Partnership Community Challenge and the Suffolk Community Foundation.