Most interesting! Nancy was great

The 2009 Season is off to a flying start in both the Fishermen’s Heritage Centre and the Peter Coke Shell Art Gallery, which are housed in the historic Victorian long-shore Fishing Sheds on The Slipway, West Cliff, Sheringham. In the Fishermen’s Heritage Centre two expert conservators have painstakingly cleaned the huge sail which has hung over the Henry Ramey Upcher Lifeboat for many years. It was extremely dusty, dirty and extremely damp, but is now returned to its original colour and has taken on a new lease of life. The sailor’s sea chest has now been covered by a Perspex cover through which can be seen original items of the period, including shaving equipment. Quite a number of changes have taken place in the Peter Coke Gallery. The decision to change from charging an entrance fee to a box for donations is proving to be a success, and the number of visitors to the gallery has quadrupled. Since Peter Coke died last year and left us a further 80 art works, many changes have taken place in the Gallery to accommodate them, including the purchase of a number of plastic covers for some of the larger items. The garden in front of the Sheds has now been planted by Sheringham in Bloom. It has been partially paved to take seating, with a space available for wheel-chair users, and we now have two lovely garden seats. These have been donated by the families of two of our recently deceased members, who were both well known and loved. Some weeks ago the Society received through the post box at the Heritage Centre an anonymous gift of a very old photograph album containing many pictures of local fishermen and boats - most of whom are credited and many are dated. It is very likely that they will be made into a book to exhibit in the Heritage Centre, but whatever decision is made we are very grateful to the person or persons who made this most valuable donation. By the Fishermen’s Heritage Centre

Old photographs

I was interested to hear you have very old photos of fishermen and boats but before I come dashing across country to your museum, may I ask two things? Are the photos accessible to visitors and are they of the 19th century?