Absolutely Fabulous star Julia Sawalha has thrown her support behind a new fundraising campaign to help furnish and decorate a newly-refurbished city museum.
The No.1 Royal Crescent Fan Club has been launched as a way of raising £200,000 to dress the new museum, which is due to open on June 21, with restored artifacts, furnishings and paintings.
Ms Sawalha said she had a very personal interest in the project as she was midway through her own period property refurbishment in Bath.
The 44-year-old, who has lived in the city for the past five years, said: "I am currently doing up a Grade One listed house in Somerset Place and every morning when I wake up I can't tell you how thrilling it is to have the opportunity to restore and preserve this building and bring it back to its former glory.
"I have to remind myself every day that I am a custodian of this house, although I own it I'm merely looking after it for the many people who are going to follow in my footsteps.
"And that is what I think this fan club does. You are going to be looking after one of the most beautiful buildings in Bath for the many thousands of people who are going to visit it long after you are gone. You are going to be part of the museum's history, its story."
The cost of joining the fan club is £50 a month, for two years, and for that you get a number of benefits, including two years membership of the Bath Preservation Trust and invitations to lectures and receptions.
Historian Adrian Tinniswood was also at the launch and urged people to sign up.
He said: "I am trying to think of a reason not to belong to the fan club and there aren't any.
"You will get that warm, fuzzy glow of saving the best Georgian house in England, making it new and beautiful, and then you get a whole host of other benefits."
The refurbishment of No.1 Royal Crescent is costing around £5 million and will see it expand from five rooms on display to ten.
It has been paid for thanks to large contributions from the Brownsword Charitable Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
For more information about the project go to www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk.
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