Hundreds of people have added their name to the battle to persuade Cambridgeshire County Council to rethink its plan to scrap its financial support for Huntingdon’s Cromwell Museum.

Members of the Friends of the Cromwell Museum were in Huntingdon High Street on Saturday (January 18) and collected more than 350 signatures in just two hours.

Their efforts were in addition to more than 900 people who have signed a county council e-petition - but more signatures are still required.

Bob Pugh, of the Friends group, said: “With two weeks to go to the county council’s deadline of February 5, we’ve still a fair way to go to reach the 3,000 signatures required to force a full council debate.

“The response in the street was amazing with a signature every 20 seconds but we still need to keep the pressure up.”

The county council is considering scrapping its funding for the museum in an effort to help make saving totalling £149million by 2019.

But supporters of the museum want it to postpone any decision on funding until a review into alternative ways of running the heritage asset has been carried out.

The county council is due to agree its business plan, which includes saving £20,000 by axing its support for the museum, at a full council meeting on February 18.

The friends say they are planning more street collections and people are being urged to visit http://savethecromwellmuseum.org.