AN IMPRESSED crowd turned out to the first weekend opening of the Newport Ship on Friday.

Around 20 people turned out to the pre-showing of the historic vessel ahead of its official launch next month.

Chair of Newport Ship Phil Cox was delighted with the success of the day.

“Plenty of people came through the doors considering the fact that we didn’t advertise it much - as we are concentrating on the Friday and Saturday in July for the school holidays,” he said.

“Some people came down in the off chance with one person coming down from Worcester especially.”

The museum now has a retail outlet called the cabin selling The Newport ship merchandise including mugs and pens as well as the ‘very popular’ prints by artist Anne Leaver.

During the day visitors were impressed with the size of the space and the work that has gone into the project; with four people joining the friends of Newport Ship group.

“People have been impressed with what has been done so far," Mr Cox added.

“It is a continuous cycle of improvement as we continue to improve it every weekend with putting up new displays and redeveloping the displays in a different way to keep it fresh.”

The ship has 20 volunteers so far and Mr Cox is looking for more.

For more information visit: www.newportship.org