Shipbuilding heritage museum gets £15k revamp

The work will improve conditions in the museum workshop, where volunteers like Bob Crompton restore vessels

A museum celebrating the shipbuilding history of a city is having an upgrade to create more space for visitors.

Sunderland Maritime Heritage Museum, in Sunderland's East End, is home to a range of ship models and restores a number of vessels in its workshop.

The exhibition space and the workshop are being separated with a wall as part of the £15,000 works, which will also reduce noise and dust.

"It's exciting," said vice-chair Jim Sullivan. "This project is going to help us enhance the visitors' space and give us a better environment for our volunteers to work in."

The works, which have been funded by charity William Leech and Sunderland City Council, have been ongoing since the early summer.

Mr Sullivan added there were hopes an event next month would celebrate the new look of the museum.

Mr Sullivan, pictured third from left, said the works were exciting

The museum was founded in 1999 and is home to various artefacts, documents and ship models.

The charity has about 25 volunteers, aged between 30 and 80.

"The living memory's going. The shipyards have been shut for over 30 years," Mr Sullivan said.

"It's sometimes difficult for the younger generation to relate to that. If you didn't have a grandfather or a father working in the yard, potentially you don't know much about it."

Mr Sullivan previously said the museum was "running out of space", with donations to its vast collection coming in almost every week.

He said there were hopes the charity could have a small number of items displayed in the city's new Culture House, which is expected to open later this year.

That could help attract more visitors to the maritime heritage museum, Mr Sullivan said.

Its current base inside an industrial unit on Church Street did not see much footfall, he added.