Multi-million pound bid to revamp museum after increasing demand in visitors

03/12/2023

The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth could get a major revamp (Image: Archant Norfolk (C) 2015) A popular Norfolk museum could be set for a major revamp after a bid was lodged to secure GBP4.3m of lottery money. Museum bosses have put in an application for National Lottery Heritage Fund cash to make major changes to the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.

The Changing Tides – Shaping Our Great Yarmouth project would create new spaces for visitors, including by enclosing the museum’s courtyard with a glazed roof [1]. The idea is that by adapting and covering that open space, it would create a flexible ‘indoor atrium’ at the heart of the museum for use by visitors, schools and community groups. It would also provide a space the museum could use to host larger public events.

Eastern Daily Press: The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth

The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth (Image: Archant) The service made an expression of interest in bidding for the money earlier this year [2] and was given the government green light to submit an application. A spokesman for Norfolk Museums Service said a successful bid would mean the museum could meet increasing demand from visitors and schools – and allow it to refresh other displays.

They said: “We hope to redisplay and reinterpret many of the museum galleries, especially on the first floor, making the displays more relevant and engaging to our audiences by highlighting maritime collections and other stories. “This would include working with artists and community groups to reinterpret the building’s industrial and maritime heritage and they would co-produce new artworks to display within the galleries.

Eastern Daily Press: The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth

Eastern Daily Press: The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth (Image: Archant)

“We are further developing our relationship with the Royal Museums Greenwich team and we will work on plans with them to create a new partnership gallery in the museum.”