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Museum's last day before two-year closure

Jim ScottIn Sunderland
BBC/Jim Scott Visitors Myles, who is standing with a striped shirt, and Louie who is in a pushchair, and their grandmother who is wearing a blue top and a white and blue striped skirt, stand in the museum in front of Wallace the lion. The lion, which is stuffed and beige in colour, is behind a glass screen and forms part of an exhibit with an old white Nissan car. BBC/Jim Scott
Visitors who grew up with Wallace the lion have been visiting the museum to say goodbye

A museum is preparing for its last visitors before closing for a £13.6m refurbishment scheduled to take two years.

The Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, which opened at its current location off Burdon Road in 1879, will shut on Saturday afternoon for repairs, the relocation of the main entrance, changes to the layout and the addition of two new galleries.

However Sea Change, the operator of the museum's cafe that is staffed by people with autism and learning disabilities, will permanently close.

Trina Murphy, manager of museum redevelopment at Sunderland City Council, said many visitors were coming to say goodbye to its most famous attraction, the 164-year-old Wallace the lion.

Responding to the cafe closure, Murphy said it had only been a short-term arrangement.

BBC/Jim Scott Trina Murphy, who is wearing a yellow shirt and a black pendant necklance, stands in between two large storage racks. In the background are items which have been packaged up in bubble wrap, and cardboard. Trina is holding up a replica of a Sunderland tram, and a brand new boxed locomotive for a model railway.BBC/Jim Scott
Trina Murphy said some of the museum's items would go on loan to schools

The building has gone through several changes over the years, with a major extension being added in the 1960s and again in 2001 when the Winter Gardens was opened.

Looking to the future, Murphy said: "I can't wait for that day when we cut that ribbon because it will be for the people of the city and for the staff.

"They deserve to see their museum developed."

She said some smaller exhibits will go on tour in the community during the closure, with "loan boxes" handed out to places including schools in order to keep them visible.

BBC/Jim Scott Dr Anneke Hackenbroich stands next to Sean Taylor, both from the museum, inside a former art gallery which has been turned into a makeshift storage site while the museum is renovated. Behind them are hundreds of clear perspex boxes, which are empty and waiting for items to be stored inside, as well as a wall of MDF panels which are used to separate exhibits inside the gallery.BBC/Jim Scott
Two lorries were needed to deliver the boxes needed to pack items for storage

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