Shipbuilding heritage museum running out of space

A museum and visitor centre trying to preserve a city's shipbuilding heritage is "running out of space".

Volunteers at Sunderland Maritime Heritage Museum, in Sunderland, said "hardly a week goes past" without people dropping off donations to add to their vast collection of artefacts.

"We've literally run out of space, we just haven't got anywhere to put stuff," vice-chair Jim Sullivan said.

There are hopes the museum could expand into a neighbouring building - or ideally move to a more visible part of the city, such as the riverside.

Sunderland Maritime Heritage was founded in 1999 and is home to various artefacts, document and ship models.

The charity, which has about 20 volunteers aged from their 30s to 80, also restores a number of vessels in its workshop.

Its collection includes a tenth-scale model of HMS Venerable. It is linked to the city via Sunderland man Jack Crawford who was part of the ship's crew when it took part in a significant sea battle off the Dutch coast in 1797.

Mr Crawford was also born in the city's East End, not far from the current base of the museum.

One expansion option includes taking over the unit next door.

"It would be an improvement, it would be development of the charity, it would be a step forward," Mr Sullivan said, adding: "Maybe not as far as we would like to go."

The ultimate ambition is to move to the riverside or the seafront in order to attract more visitors.

The site is currently based inside an industrial unit on Church Street East and Mr Sullivan said people often told him they did not know the museum was there.

"It's not in a part of the town where we have a lot of footfall," he said, adding: "We could expand, we have enough equipment to fill another building."

However, he added there were no firm plans yet and discussions were in the early stages.

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