Trust gets £500,000 for the pot

A Cornish pottery once owned by one of the world's most famous potters has been awarded £500,000 in a bid to have it restored and reopened.

Bernard Leach set up his pottery in St Ives in 1920. It helped establish Britain's ceramic art worldwide.

The Bernard Leach Trust is trying to raise £1.8m to get it re-opened as a working studio and tourist attraction.

It has just been awarded another £500,000 by the European Regional Development Fund.

Money has also come from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Arts Council and Cornwall County Council and Penwith District Council.

Bernard Leach was born in 1899 in Hong Kong. He spent many years in Japan, before his work made him internationally famous because of its oriental style.

He became a leading pioneer of hand-made pottery at a time when England knew only industrial methods. He died in 1979.