Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, will cut the ribbon on the new extension to the Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Centre on Friday, June 29.

Volunteers will be working flat out over the next week to get the museum looking shipshape for their VIP guest and the official opening on July 1.

The huge mass of artefacts have been packed away in storage while the renovation work at The Cottage in Cluny Place has been carried out.

It is thought the major task or putting the photographs, model boats, and fishing artefacts back on display could take all week to undertake.

Director and treasurer, Frank Macleod, said the extension was a huge boost to the museum, which has been straining at the seams in recent years.

"There were so many things crammed into The Cottage that we could hardly fit in the visitors. Everything was just growing in piles in corners.

"The extension has definitely been well worth the effort because we will be able to show off all the artefacts and that will be to our advantage.

"We feel very lucky and privileged to have a royal visitor come to open the extension, and hopefully the crowds will turn out," said Mr Macleod.

The heritage museum was able to secure a visit from the earl thanks to the intervention of Clare Russell, the Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire.

She was aware he was to be in the area to welcome in the Moray Firth Flotilla as it arrives for the Portsoy Traditional Small Boat Festival.

Prince Edward will make a flying visit to open the museum – just a stone's throw from the fishermen's memorial opened by The Queen during the 1980s.

The refurbishment has been carried out at a cost of £145,000, with all of the funds being drawn down from the lottery, HIE Moray and Moray Council.

The internal walls of the old cottage, which is adjacent to the town's library, have all been knocked through to create an open plan display space.

The extension includes an office, kitchen, disabled toilets and a small lecture theatre which has seating for around 20 people.

Many items in the display have been gifted by local people and are unique snapshots of the town's rich fishing heritage from a bygone age.

The collection has grown so much that some of the items have been held in storage and have never been put on public display before now.

The museum, which has free entry, attracts hundreds of visitors each season and many come for help in tracing their ancestral roots. Mr Macleod said he hoped that genealogy was an area in which the museum would be able to expand its work.

He added: "Our members go out into the community and give talks to groups such as women's guilds and schools, but now that we have the room, we hope they will come to us.

"We want to use the centre more for educational purposes."

Prince Edward is expected to arrive at the museum at around 2.30pm.

l.carter@northern-scot.co.uk

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