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The Newbiggin Maritime Centre
The Newbiggin Maritime Centre will develop the site of the Newbiggin Heritage Centre at Church Point adjacent to Newbiggin Beach providing a visitor centre that explores the heritage of the seaside village together with its fishing and sea rescue stories.
The Maritime Centre concept has been prepared in close consultation with the Newbiggin community developing a range of active partnerships in the village and more broadly across the Wansbeck District. The “landmark” Centre aims to continue the regeneration of Newbiggin providing economic, social, educational and community benefits in the development of a new image for Newbiggin.
The site is visible to everyone visiting Newbiggin’s beach, complementing the Grade One listed Church, St Bartholomew’s, which dominates the adjacent headland.
The Newbiggin Maritime Centre will be a distinctive architectural design which allows it to both stand out from its site and environment whilst maintaining regard for the sensitivities for the lines of sight to the Church.
The Newbiggin Maritime Centre will be a symbol of regeneration and enterprise for the community of Newbiggin celebrating its past and energizing its future.
The project is being developed as a partnership project with strong links to community and education organisations in Newbiggin and the surrounding area and in association with strategic regeneration bodies in Wansbeck and Northumberland.
This important heritage interpretation and education project seeks to achieve the highest standards of service, delivery, governance and conservation management allowing it to seek national accreditation from the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
A fundraising target of £2.87 million (including building and fit out costs, professional fees, contingencies and start up revenue) is sought from a wide range of regeneration agencies, heritage and cultural agencies and private trusts and foundations to enable the construction of the landmark building over the summer and autumn of 2009 ready for an opening in the spring of 2010.
The business plan provides a sustainable revenue model which relies on income from commercial activity which takes maximum advantage of the NMC’s prominent site.
In its first full year of operation the Centre will attract a total of 32,000 visitors; 15,000 from public admissions to its animated exhibition of the maritime heritage of the North Sea Coast and the traditions of sea rescue and fishing from the Newbiggin community of which 2000 will be for specialised education visits. The remaining 17,000 people will attend the Centre’s ancillary services as a conference and training facility, community cinema and destination restaurant.
The Centre will provide up to 15 FTE new jobs in its community (over 30 individuals employed)
Partnerships are being forged to use the facilities for the training of tourism, event management and catering students. The Centre’s retail area will form a hub for the sale and development of merchandise from the creative industries in Wansbeck.
The Newbiggin Maritime Heritage Centre is to be built to house two major pieces of Newbiggin’s maritime history, the restored ‘Mary Joicey’ Lifeboat and a local Coble fishing boat the ‘Girl Anne’ and provide interpretation of the relationship of Newbiggin and its people with the sea.
The Mary Joicey Lifeboat will be displayed in a space that can transform to provide a video and soundscape interpretation of the environment in which the old lifeboat operated and the dangers faced by the men who risked their lives in their dedication to sea rescue.
The Coble ‘Girl Ann’ will be displayed in an area that provides a heritage interpretation of the role of fishing in Newbiggin. Some facsimile dwellings and tools will provide a backdrop to a live reminiscence experience involving a local character, stories of the sea and instruction in boat building, net-making and fishing off Newbiggin.
The history of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea as a resort and weekend beach amenity for the people of the North East will be explored in the retail and catering areas which will house a café/restaurant. The café
will provide quality catering for the public and support the conference and meeting business of the centre. The onsite kitchen will serve into the café, outside to the terrace in the summer and into the education
The education/meeting/conference facility will be equipped with state of the art digital projection equipment for film and image, a quality sound system, comfortable seats, blackout curtains and acoustic provision for use as a small cinema, conference room and lecture theatre.
A retail space for the sale of souvenirs, and the products of local creative industries, in conjunction with a welcome and ticket sales desk will sit near the entrance. For more information on the project and to keep up to date with progress, please visit: Newbiggin Maritime Centre Website For a copy of the project brochure, please email Jenny on assist.debnam@blueyonder.co.uk
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