A VICTORIAN lifeboat house that holds the history of the town’s lifesaving seafarers has been given a facelift and reopened to the public.

The Harwich Society Lifeboat Museum opened a month late this year after repairs to the Lookout Tower and a complete repaint.

David Whittle, vice-chairman of the society, said: “The work had to be delayed in April because of rain and worked stopped in May due to an infestation of vicious caterpillars that caused people to come out in a serious rash.”

The newly-reopened museum, in Wellington Road, Harwich, also features a new lifeboat model.

Mr Whittle added: “At the end of last year the society had a distressed model of an Oakley Class lifeboat donated to the museum.

“Over the winter Tony Mobbs has restored the model to reflect what the Valentine Wyndam Quin would have looked liked when she took up her station at Clacton on Sea in 1968.”

The museum, itself a Victorian lifeboat-house of 1876, is home to a variety of displays and information detailing the history of Harwich lifeboats.

It is also home to a 37ft former Clacton offshore lifeboat, the Valentine Wyndham-Quin, which saw service from 1968 until 1988.

The Lifeboat Museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 3pm.

Entry to the Museum is £1, accompanied children go free as do Harwich Society Members.