Two of Bradford’s highest profile celebrities have announced their support for the Telegraph & Argus campaign to save the National Media Museum with one, singer Gareth Gates, claiming its closure would be a “sad step backwards” for the city.

Gareth joins Kimberley Walsh, of Girls Aloud fame, in supporting the fight to stop the museum being closed.

Singer-songwriter Kimberley said: “As I'm from Bradford, the National Media Museum holds many fond memories for my family and I. It would be a real shame to lose this landmark.”

Gareth said his parents and their foster children were frequent visitors at the museum – threatened with closure in the face of budget cuts - and particularly value its family-friendly facilities.

The T&A is campaigning to save the museum following the Science Museum Group’s announcement that if the Government’s latest spending review amounts to a ten per cent cut there would be “little choice” other than to close one of its museums.

Gareth said: “If the Government funding cuts lead to the closure of the National Media Museum it will be a significant loss to Bradford and West Yorkshire.

“As it opened in 1983, this cultural hub as been in Bradford all my life and has since been a part of this city’s heartbeat, attracting visitors worldwide.

“On a personal level, because it is educational and fun, my parents visit the museum regularly with the foster children we have in the family. They particularly enjoy the interactive galleries, the Games Lounge and the Magic Factory.”

He added: “With the success of the City Park, the feeling of Bradford moving forward, the closure of this excellent museum would be a sad step backwards for the city.”

Gareth, 28, threw his weight behind the T&A Stop the Cut campaign while in Bradford last weekend, auditioning local children for a show he is bringing to the city this summer.

The former Bradford Cathedral choirboy, of East Bowling, shot to fame as runner-up of Pop Idol in 2002. He went on to sell 3.5 million records, and in recent years he has become a musical theatre leading man, starring in such shows as Les Miserables and Legally Blonde.

In 2011 he opened the Gates&Wilkes Academy, with musical theatre star Jonathan Wilkes, offering classes for children in singing, dancing and acting. It is based at Dixons City Academy, where Gareth was a pupil.

Meanwhile, the National Media Museum is this weekend hosting events to mark its 30th anniversary.

Visitors to the Museum will get a special behind the scenes tours of Insight, the Museum’s Collections and Research Centre which holds some of the 3.5 million objects that are not on permanent display, and a newly developed showcase of the highlights of the National Collections in the main galleries.

There will also be screenings of To Fly!, the very first IMAX film to be shown at the Museum in 1983 and visitors will be treated to a birthday cake, which is being served daily during the weekend’s celebrations.

Also featuring are talks on the Cottingley Fairies photographs from the National Photography Collection, which are known around the world but were taken in a garden only four miles from the Museum.

Science comedy act, Punk Science, will be performing a special show all about the National Media Museum in City Park this weekend as part of the Bradford Festival.