Fleetwood Museum all set for re-opening

Fleetwood Museum reopens its doors next week with a host of new exhibitions.
The Fisherman's Friend exhibition at Fleetwood MuseumThe Fisherman's Friend exhibition at Fleetwood Museum
The Fisherman's Friend exhibition at Fleetwood Museum

Forced to postpone its annual season when the coronavirus pandemic took hold, volunteers are excited to welcome back visitors for what remains of the summer - and there’s a hint the attraction may stay open for a little while longer into the autumn.

The museum team have been working hard to ensure the venue environment is safe and have followed specific government guidelines for the safe re-opening of museums.

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Among the new exhibits is a exciting look at the history of Fisherman’s Friend, from its humble beginnings with a chemist shop in Lord Street, to the international multi-million pound company it is today.

As well as telling the story of the lozenge company’s success, there are a selection of unseen pieces from the company’s early days, including one surviving original bottle.

There’s also some footage from TV advertisements in the 1980s and the ambience of the display is finished off with scents in the air which reflect the factory’s familiar menthol smell.

The long standing Deep Sea Gallery has new material, including some from the Jacinta which tells the story of the heritage trawler and there are two virtual tours.

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The ICI gallery has also had a refurb with a new, temporary display called Collecting Fleetwood, showcasing new material from the town’s history and recent donations to the Museum Trust

New artworks are in place which tell the story of Fleetwood and set the scene from the town’s early days

Museum manager Ben Whittaker said: “This year has the most new exhibits we have ever had and we are really looking forward to showing them to visitors.

“We were all ready to open before the lockdown and so it is all ready to go.

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“We have put in a lot of hard work and it looks brilliant, we are really pleased with the new exhibits.”

Like every other public place, people will need to hand sanitise before entering the museum and a one way system has been put in place to aid social distancing.

Enhanced cleaning procedures are in force and volunteers will wear PPE. Vistitors are expected to wear face masks

Ben added: “We will not be operating a time slot system for visiting the museum but we will be staggering numbers and keeping a tighter control on how many people are in the museum at one time.

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“For those turning up we will ask them to keep a distance between people.

“And for the moment we will not be opening the cafe.

“It’s a small space and it wouldn’t be viable, People would need to work in a close proximity too so we are happy to keep it closed from that point of view.”

The volunteers who have returned to the museum have all undergone Covid-19 awareness training.

The museum will be open from Tuesday August 4 at 10.30am and will stay open until November with a possibility of an extension depending on how the season progresses.

To find out more about the exhibits, visit www.fleetwood museum.co.uk

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