FUNDING for the ambitious restoration of Richmond station is now almost completely in place after a sudden surge following a match-funding offer.

The Gunnerside Estate had offered to give £50,000 to the project to turn the station into a commercial and community centre for the town if it could be matched from elsewhere.

And that has now been achieved - leaving the trustees with only about £120,000 left to raise for the scheme, the cost of which has crept up from £2.6m to around £2.75m.

The trustee who look after fund-raising for the project, Dave Dalton, said: "We couldn't believe how generous the Gunnerside Estate was when they came forward with their idea, as we'd never received a private or corporate donation on such a scale before."

A spokesman for the Gunnerside Estate said they fully backed the project as it would create a focal point for people living throughout Swaledale and beyond.

He added: "When we learned that the station charity had been so successful in raising most of the funds they required we thought it might help them clear their final £100,000 hurdle, if we were to donate half this amount, provided that they could match our contribution with £50,000 from their own supporters."

The chairman of the Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust, Jim Jack, said donations had come from all over the country and abroad but most were made by people living locally.

"I was a bit worried that the local community might be suffering from donor fatigue as we'd already asked them to contribute to the station lots of times during the campaign," he said.

Building work is now well underway on the project and if all goes to plan the old station should be opened for business in the early part of November.

When completed it will have a restaurant, a cinema, performance space, meeting rooms, a heritage centre, exhibition space, offices and food production units.

Although total costs are now expected to be in the area of £2.75m the extra represents additional fitting-out and running costs.

"The reality is that if you looked at our wish-list we are about £120,000 short - or we could cut corners and do it for zero borrowing," said trustee Donald Cline.