09.04.2010 New museum opens its doors

This Easter a new museum has opened in Sheringham on Norfolk’s beautiful north coast. A £1.1 million project has seen the conversion of ‘The Mo’, a modern building with a viewing tower on Sheringham seafront, into a smart new museum billed as ‘a place of people and boats’.

The museum brings together collections relating to the town and its development as a holiday resort, with an impressive collection of lifeboats and fishing boats. The town has a distinctive history in that a centuries-old way of life built around fishing and the sea lasted well into the early twentieth century.

Displays tell stories of hard lives, lived to the full and include remarkable archive photos of Sheringham’s fishermen and lifeboat men. Three of the town’s original lifeboats, the JC Madge, the Forester’s Centenary and the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows provide a striking centrepiece to the displays.

The project received a generous grant of £799,500 from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). HLF also provided invaluable advice and support through its advisor Karen Knight. Richard Powell, HLF Chair, East of England said;

"The Mo is a triumph and a major new museum for the East of England region. The volunteers are the life force, the heart, the heritage and the legacy of this project. The standards of display and interpretation achieved throughout the building are fantastic."

The museum is an independent trust, reliant on volunteers. Its first paid member of staff, Museum Manager, Sarah Stannage, was appointed to run the museum and to oversee the final 4 months of the project. Sarah Stannage said;

"The Mo is a vision that has been entirely driven by local people who are passionate about Sheringham’s heritage. Creating the new museum has seen these volunteers working alongside various museum and other professionals. It’s proved an effective combination and I hope this project is seen as an exemplary scheme, demonstrating how volunteers and professionals can work together to create a fantastic visitor experience".

Norfolk Architects Feilden + Mawson have successfully converted the original 1996 amenities building into a series of light and airy galleries with walkways that give impressive views over the lifeboats. A re-worked viewing tower has given the town a new seafront icon, and visitors spectacular new views of the town, the sea and the surrounding hills.

Museum designer Nick Arber PHD drew up original designs and led on the production and installation of displays such as a re-creation of the renowned Emery boatbuilders’ workshop, and a street of shops from the town. Nick Arber commented;

"Understandably many museum volunteers accustomed to creating their own displays feel uncertain about the role a professional designer will play in their project. It was vital that ownership of the museum displays remain with the volunteers. This project has shown that achieving that balance can create a delightful museum, with a wide variety of displays and great potential for future development."

Text panels and marketing have a strong visual look that has been developed by Norwich firm, Shorthose Russell Ltd working with consultant Helen Mitchell, who has also written display panels for the museum.

Summer 2010 will see the addition of a new display about the forthcoming Sheringham Shoal wind farm. And visitors will be able to enjoy unparalleled views of the windfarm when it opens in 2011 from the museum’s viewing tower.

The Mo will open annually from 1 February to 31 October. Open hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4.30pm and Sunday from midday to 4pm. Admission costs £3.50 for adults, £3 concessions and £1.50 for children aged 5 to 16. School groups enjoy free entry but must book in advance.

Entry for school parties is free and the museum has already developed a number of resources to support school visits including putting a selection of archive photos online in an E2BN gallery to assist with individual school projects.

05.04.10 Volunteers and museum professionals put final touches to new Norfolk museum

A team of volunteers is working alongside museum professionals to finish displays in Sheringham’s new museum, The Mo. The museum is set to open for the Easter holidays on 29 March 2010, with a celebratory Royal opening happening during the week before.

The museum unites collections from the original Sheringham Museum on Station Road with historic lifeboats and fishing boats from the town. The new museum building, on Sheringham seafront, was handed over by the architects Fielden and Mawson in January this year and since then volunteers have been unpacking boxes, cleaning objects, setting up cases and researching and checking labels.

Norfolk-based museum designer, Nick Arber PhD, has designed and made stunning re-creations of town shops and of the famous Emery Boat Yard. Volunteers have worked alongside him to create the new displays with objects from the collections.

Volunteers are involved in all aspects of the running of the museum. Museum Manager Sarah Stannage said;
"The Mo is right at the heart of the community in Sheringham. The amazing lifeboats and fishing boats here have all been lovingly preserved by museum volunteers. The archives and collections too are cherished and looked after by volunteers.
When the museum re-opens, volunteers will be on the frontline, serving in the shop, working with schools and helping bring Sheringham’s story to life for visitors."

Amongst the volunteers are ex-Sheringham lifeboatmen, builders and teachers while Museum Chairman, David Brown, was previously head of finance at North Norfolk District Council.

Volunteer Co-ordinator Brenda Joyce said;
"There’s a great atmosphere at the museum. It’s a wonderful building and the boats give it a ‘wow’ factor. We are hoping that more people, from Sheringham and further afield will want to join our volunteer team, we particularly need people to assist with the shop and visitor desk. The work is immensely rewarding and sociable and we offer training and support for young and old."

11.03.10 New museum at the Mo in Sheringham

Today, the Directors of Sheringham Museum are pleased to announce that a new museum for Sheringham will be formally opened by HRH The Duke of Kent on Thursday 25th March. His Royal Highness will be accompanied by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk, The Rt Hon, The Viscountess Knollys, OBE,DL The £1.1 million project has seen the conversion of ‘The Mo’, a modern building with a viewing tower on Sheringham seafront, into a smart new museum that will be a major new attraction on Norfolk’s popular north coast. The focus of the museum is the story of the people who have lived near the sea and the boats that have served the town over many years. The museum’s impressive collection of lifeboats and fishing boats are on display downstairs while upstairs displays focus on Sheringham town and re-creations of traditional shops.

Funding has been provided largely by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the tune of £799,500 and the sale of the former cottages, housing the museum since 1990.

David Brown, Project Leader and Chairman of the Directors said:

“We are a volunteer led independent museum and it is the realisation of a dream for Directors and Trustees to see the project come to fruition after so many years and be able to show the maritime and social history of the town under one roof. The museum will be a major new tourist attraction for Sheringham and for the North Norfolk coast. It will be open for 9 months of the year and during the year there will be a range of other events to add to its attraction and appeal.”

30.10.09 A walk round the museum site

On a warm summers evening in September, all the Directors, under the supervision of Tony Sadler, had a site visit to the Mo, we all wore hard hats and suitable clothing ready to see at first hand how the project is progressing. Even though the Mo was full of builders equipment, supplies, ladders, pipes, and scaffolding, you could see the museum starting to take shape and, using your imagination, envisage what it will all look like when finished.

Downstairs the Manchester Unity lifeboat takes pride of place and can be seen from every corner of the building, especially from what will be the glass fronted entrance, as you stand at the front door into the museum you are looking into the see shop/reception area and where the beautiful compass rose mosaic will be set in the floor, and of course the entrance to the viewing tower. Stepping through what will be the glass doors at the rear of the reception area and where the reception desk will be located, you enter into the main museum itself and here you will find the lifeboats and fishing boats (at present all the boats are well covered and protected from the building work). Turning left from the doors you pass a set of stairs leading to the first floor and then you come to what will be the mock ups of the Fisherman’s Cottage and Emery’s Boatyard. Passing further along you will find tucked away in the far corner, what will be the office. Moving round you then pass the second staircase, which also takes you up to the first floor and then the site of the Weybourne Elephant display, following on you come to where both the toilet and lift will be installed. To the rear of the floor you will find the fishing boats, alongside the model boats and the beach huts, before you finally move around the Manchester Unity where you will then find yourself back at the glass doors to the shop/reception area and exit.

People who may only want to visit the viewing tower will have access to it from a separate door near the reception desk, these visitors will be unable to access to main museum from the tower. Visitors who wish to see the viewing tower from the main museum will have access only from the first floor street scene.

Once in the main museum you can use either of the two staircases on the ground floor or the lift to gain access to the first floor, where you will find the street scene and social history of Sheringham. On this floor you will also find the amenities room, which has wonderful views out to sea from the large glass windows at the front , and to the rear you can see yet again the Manchester Unity through the inner glass windows. The amenities room will be used for various events, exhibitions and talks etc. A door from the amenities room also leads you into the street scene.

The street scene is where all the mock ups of the shops will be, including the drapers, apothecary, leather, fruit and florist shops and much more. Social history of Sheringham displays will also be on this floor, including WW2, the fishing industry, hotels and aspects of childhood.

It is going to be a very exciting time and a wonderful museum to visit.

Brenda Joyce - Sheringham Museum Director

30.10.09 Project update

Building work is due to finish in late November, although behind schedule in terms of the handover date, hopefully, we will be able to obtain access before then to begin work on the displays.

If you would like to help with setting up the displays ready for the official opening, please contact Chris Wildee on 01263 721120 or download and complete the form on the volunteer vacancies page.

We hope to have the museum ready for the following dates……...

• Soft Opening: February 2010 - Half term week
• Official Opening: Week commencing 22nd—29th March (Actual day yet to be confirmed)
• Open to the public: Easter 2010 (April 2nd—Good Friday)

13.07.09 Wind energy visitor and education centre for Sheringham announced

The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm will work with the management of The Mo to establish a visitor and wind energy education centre in Sheringham, the North Norfolk seaside town after which the wind farm is named.

The Sheringham Shoal Visitor and Education Centre will be located in The Mo, the iconic building on Sheringham’s east promenade which is currently undergoing a £1 million refurbishment to become the new home to the Sheringham Museum and the town’s enviable collection of lifeboats.

"The Mo is known as 'a place of people and boats'; in many ways it provides a history of a town where life has traditionally revolved around the sea " said David Brown, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sheringham Museum. "However as offshore wind energy looks set to play a major role in North Norfolk’s future, it is natural for us to look forward as well by providing a location to tell the story of wind energy in general, and the Sheringham Shoal Wind Farm in particular as well."

Sheringham Shoal Project Director, Rune Rønvik said the museum was the perfect location for such a centre as the wind farm is located directly out to sea some 17 to 22 kilometres offshore.

“The wind farm will be part of the local community for many years to come and this initiative will provide residents and tourists with a resource where they can learn more about it, and all aspects of wind energy," he said.

The Sheringham Museum is scheduled to open to the public in time for Easter 2010, and the formal opening of Sheringham Offshore Wind Farm Shoal Visitor and Education Centre is planned to take place during May 2010. The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm will be completed at the end of 2011.

The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is being developed by Scira Offshore Energy Limited which is jointly owned by StatoilHydro, a world leading operator of offshore oil and gas fields, and Statkraft, a utility and Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy. StatoilHydro will be the operator for the project during the development phase.

For further information about the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm
contact PR and Communication Manager Sue Vincent on mobile: 07768 508742 or email: info@scira.co.uk or Nigel Tompkins on T: 01263 822427 or email: nigel@ni4b.co.uk about the proposed visitor and education centre.

12.05.09 Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Lifeboat makes her final journey home – by air!

An old Norfolk lifeboat made one of her shortest but trickiest journeys on Tuesday May 12th – by air rather than sea.

Dangling from the end of a towering crane jib, the former Sheringham rescue boat was hoisted 12ft off the ground over a seafront car park and into the bowels of a new museum that will be her final resting place.

It was a tense moment for the crowd of onlookers, including former crew’s concern about her safety, and museum officials seeing another part of their dream come true as the prized exhibition was put into place.

The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows served the town for 30 years from 1961, returning in 1999 as part of a growing fleet of former lifeboats gathering to make a unique collection. Work has just started on a £1m museum project that will house the Unity, two other lifeboats, some fishing boats and a range of local heritage displays from a relocated town museum.

The Unity was lowered into a courtyard at the Mo to sit on huge steel beams, aimed at spreading the 22 tonnes of boat and carriage.

She had arrived at the seafront just after 6.30am after being towed through the streets from her temporary storage – but it was 9.20am before it was “lift off” and the boat gracefully eased in to the air.

The 26m journey took just a few minutes, with helpers steering her with guidelines from the ground. She sailed over pub tables outside the Crown, including one with a dozing dog on it, oblivious to the activities around and above. Crane boss Bill Stanworth from Bronzeshield at Kenninghall said the blustery winds made it tricky, and resulted in a change of plan – going straight across the pub front, instead of swinging over the promenade.

The boat’s last coxswain Clive Rayment, who watched and helped with other old crewmen, said after the successful lift: “It went very well – a bit breezy, but she always goes well in a gale.”

Museum architect Philip Bodie from Feilden+Mawson said the nest stage involved putting up steel work around the Unity to roof her in and make that part of the building watertight, as well as adding a new observation tower.

The rest of the building will be upgraded by contractors J S Hay to include mock street scenes, display galleries, and house two other lifeboats – the J C Madge and Foresters Centenary.

For three original members of the Sheringham Museum Trust – Mary Blyth, Denise Lattaway and Tony Sadler, the craning in of the boat was a watershed moment – 20 years after they first hatched plans for a town museum.

Mrs Blyth said its previous home in a series of cottages tucked away off the high street was wonderful, but the new building would make a huge difference, by being able to display more items, and attract more visitors by being in a prominent location.

The cottages were sold to help pay for the new museum, which also won a £799,500 Heritage Lottery grant towards the attraction which is due to open next Easter.

Reproduced by kind permission of Richard Batson, Reporter, Eastern Daily Press

To view short video footage of the lifeboat being moved visit www.northnorfolk.tv - "Airborne Lifeboat at Sheringham"

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24.04.09 - Work starts on museum construction.
Work is set to begin on a new seafront museum at Sheringham, 10 years after the idea was first floated.
Over the coming months a lifeboat will be craned on to the site and a new observation tower added to the £1.1m project which will be open by this time next year.
Contractors take over the site on Monday 20th April after years of planning and funding applications, which have finally paid off with a £799,500 Heritage Lottery grant.
Read full story here

28.05.08 - Go ahead given for new Sheringham museum.
The go ahead has been given for work to begin on the creation of a new museum for Sheringham. The £1.1 million
project will see the conversion of ‘The Mo’, a modern building and viewing tower on Sheringham seafront, into
a smart new museum that will be a major new attraction on Norfolk’s popular north coast.
Read full story here