IW Council Press Release - Free entry to the Museum of Island History to celebrate shipwrecks exhibition

With the Newport Visitor Information Centre moving to new premises at Newport Bus Station, the Isle of Wight Council’s Museum of Island History is still open for visitors and planning an exciting new exhibition.

The Visitor Information Centre is moving out of the Guildhall, and the extra space means there will be more room for displays and interactive school visits to the museum. After a short refurbishment the council’s Heritage Service will re-open the Museum of Island History on Saturday 30 November with a free entry morning to celebrate the new exhibition ‘A Tale of Two Shipwrecks’. Visitors can drop into the museum for free between 10am and 1pm. There will be craft activities for families, hands-on items to explore and identification of archaeological artefacts by Frank Basford from the Portable Antiquities Scheme. From Tuesday December 3 onwards the museum will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am – 1pm throughout the winter, with two weeks off at Christmas and New Year. Admission to the museum will be reduced to just £1 for the winter period. Curator Corina Westwood said “We’ve enjoyed working with Visit Isle of Wight, and we hope the Newport Visitor Information Centre will be an even bigger success in its new home. “The Museum of Island History is still very much a part of Newport’s visitor attraction, and throughout the winter we have a programme of activities and events as well as the great new exhibition featuring the extraordinary tales of HMS Pomone and the Yarmouth Roads Wreck. There will be some rarely-seen artefacts on show, like the spectacular fitting to a Royal Navy Officer’s brass sword-belt.”