Town councillors have handed over hundreds of pounds to help finance a spruce up for an historic lifeboat.

The Henry Ramey Upcher boat, which was used in Sheringham from 1894 to 1935 and now stands at the HRU Museum on the west slipway, was found to need �890 of work, including a repaint.

The work was paid for by Sheringham and District Society, which manages the museum, but the society asked museum owner Sheringham Town Council to release money that it had held in its reserves for 10 years to pay towards it.

At last Tuesday's meeting, council members heard from Peter Cox, a long-serving councillor who chaired the HRU museum committee for most of the 1990s.

He said: 'When the council was formed in 1974 we took over responsibility for maintaining the Henry Ramey Upcher Museum on the west slipway.

'Sheringham Preservation Society provided volunteers to run it from the early 1980s. We used to split the income between the council and the society.

'Ten years ago this council was informed by the district auditor that it has no legal powers to operate a museum, which is correct, even though we'd been doing it since 1974.'

He added: 'Sheringham Preservation Society, which is now Sheringham and District Society, said it would be willing to take over the management of the museum, as this council could still own it but couldn't manage it.

'When it was transferred, we decided to put in earmarked reserves for any necessary work on the lifeboat, not on the building. There is �345 in earmarked reserves for that work.

'After a survey two years ago the society was told that the inside of the boat should be freshly painted. That's been done and the total bill is �890.'

Members agreed to hand over the �345 to help with the spruce up.