BRIGHTLINGSEA Museum could have a new home in the town’s old police station.
The museum’s team has had a bid accepted for the old police station, in Station Road, and if it all goes through it hopes tomove in later this year.
The sale has only been possible thanks to a very generous donation from Claude Dove, the museum’s chairman, who passed away two years ago.
He left the museum a large sum of money, which has been used for the new building.
Curator Margaret Stone said: “He was a historian with a particular interest in Brightlingsea.
His knowledge was immense. It will be a museum for the town.”
The police station closed in 2012 and went on the market for £175,000 earlier this year.
Although the bid has been accepted, they are still waiting to finish all the paperwork.
When the museum closes for winter in September, as it does every year, staff and volunteers will begin the move out of their current Duke Street site and into the new building.
The team are possibly looking to extend the police station building to make the full use of the space. Mrs Stone said: “We’ve got some tentative plans The existing police station will need quite a lot of work doing to it. It is just a warren of little rooms.”
They want to have a few displays up by next summer and hope the move will mean they can restart children’s activities.
Mrs Stone said: “The current building isn’t in the best of positions and access is dreadful. You can only get in up steep steps.
“It is difficult to heat and insulate.
There is not a lot we can do with it. There is lots to be done in preparation for a move and a lot of archiving to be done.”
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