Royal visit for new Sheringham museum

The Duke of Kent will visit Sheringham and Cromer this month to open a new museum and rebuilt residential home.

The twin events happen on Thursday, March 25, when the royal visit will mark the end of a �1.1m project which has seen the Mo building on Sheringham seafront transformed a new lifeboat and town museum, before heading on to unveil the �7m rebuild of the Royal British Legion's Halsey House home at Cromer.

The Sheringham museum charts the history of the towns, its people and the lifesaving boats that have served the community for many years.

A collection of lifeboats and fishing boats are on display on the ground floor while upstairs an exhibition focuses on the town with recreations of traditional shops.

The museum was funded mainly by a �799,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the sale of former cottages which have housed the displays separately since 1990.

David Brown, project leader, said: 'We are a volunteer-led independent museum and it is the realisation of a dream for the 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 open for nine months each year and will host a number of additional events.

The duke will also visit the town's lifeboat station, two years after he named Cromer's new boat, before his 2.30pm appearance at the museum.

He will them head to Halsey House to see the outcome of a four-year rebuild, which includes new wings housing 30 nursing and 30 residential beds along with a 16-bed dementia unit.

Matron manager Petronelle Fowler-Watts said he would also inspect artwork done by the residents in an hour-long visit to the home.

In the evening the duke is attending the 10th anniversary dinner of the East Anglian Air Ambulance in Cambridge.