Doors to Bognor Regis Museum open for 'longest' season

Visitor Luke Crabb, from Misty Meadow in Canada, wrote in the message book: "Little bit special".

He was among the near hundred visitors who looked around the nostalgia centre in the High Street.

It was opened before Easter by Bognor Regis Local History Society members to mean its season will stretch for seven months until late October.

Not since the museum has been at its present premises from May 1997 has its attractions been viewable for such a length of time.

This is likely to see last year's total of 12,000 visitors beaten to show the enduring popularity of the destination for tourists and visitors alike.

This year has seen special displays put together about Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital, to celebrate the NHS's 30th anniversary, to mark the town hall's 80th birthday and the 30 years of the Birdman of Bognor competition.

Another display features the 100th birthday of the model steam engine Winnie.

She was installed along Bognor seafront, the former Cabbage Patch, on a 10.25in track by Robert Alexander Briggs. The engine is being restored by the Chichester and District Society of Model Engineers.

Mention is also made of the swimming and sailing regattas which were an annual feature of Bognor seafront from at least the mid-19th century until 1921 and beyond.

Among the traditional favourites at the museum are the street of old-fashioned shopfronts and the radio museum of Ron Simpson.

Ten local history society members faced a race against time in the four days before the opening by civic dignitaries.

They had to clear up after builders and electricians had carried out maintenance work to the Arun District Council-owned building in the preceding six weeks.

The museum is open from 10am until 4pm Tuesdays to Sundays, as well as bank holiday Mondays.

Bognor Regis Town Council is working with the local history society to provide a new museum. Further details have not yet been revealed.