PETERSFIELD Museum is to celebrate buying the town’s police station with a fun open day at the Victorian lock up.
Tomorrow (Friday), Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane will officially hand over the keys to the station in St Peter’s Road to chairman of the museum trustees Vaughan Clarke.
Trustees spokesman Bill Gosney said: “Friday is an exciting day for the museum, and for the people of Petersfield.
“The next day there will be a public celebration with some fun events.
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“There will be a bicycle bonanza, which will see Victorian bikes ridden around the town, and visitors will be able to look round the police station’s Victorian cells, which are virtually unchanged since it opened in 1858.”
There will also be a Pursue the Prisoner trail around the town, in which those taking part use clues to follow the escape route around Petersfield taken by a prisoner on the run.
Once the fun day, from 10am to 5pm, is over, a four-year project will start to convert the police station into a Victorian Justice Heritage Centre, which may cost millions of pounds.
As part of the massive refurbishment project, a covered walkway will be built, linking the police station to the museum in the former magistrates court.
The station stables, used to house police horses, will be converted into a study centre dedicated to Steep poet Edward Thomas, who was killed in France during the First World War.
A dedicated gallery for Petersfield artist Flora Twort will also be included; the current gallery in Church Walk has been sold to help fund the building work, which includes re-roofing, re-wiring, and re-plumbing the police station.
Storage facilities for the museum artefacts and historic clothes are planned.
Initially, it is hoped to have parts of the police station open next year to display some of Flora’s paintings.
And the ten car parking spots outside the police station will be rented out from November.
It is hoped that the Heritage Lottery Fund will help pay for some of the work. A decision on a grant for a painstaking survey of the building and detailed plans is due in the next few weeks.