This coming Thursday (1st March), the imposing 130 year-old, iron-clad doors of Newhaven Fort, built to keep out invaders, will be unbolted, unlocked and swung open to welcome the first visitors of the new season.

The Newhaven Fort team have spent the winter months working hard to make the 2007 season exciting and appealing for all the family. The programme of special events begins with a fascinating talk about the celebrated female WW2 correspondent and photographer Lee Miller on Sunday 11th March. Also scheduled throughout the season is the open-air theatre production by Oddsocks, Easter and Halloween trails & workshops, vintage car rallies, a Christmas fair, Battle of Britain Day - with a fly past and jive dancers - and the hugely popular Fort Rox music festival. Log on to http://www.newhavenfort.org.uk/ to find out more.

Newhaven Fort Manager, Simon Cochran said,
“The whole Fort team has been working extremely hard to make sure the new season gets off to a great start. We’re freshly painted, have new displays and have undergone an intensive ‘spring clean’. All we need now is to welcome our visitors, and we’re set for a great season”

Also new for 2007, Newhaven Fort, Seaford’s Martello Tower and The Redoubt Fortress in Eastbourne have joined forces to create the Sussex Coastal Forts partnership (SCF). The SCF partnership has introduced a shared ticketing scheme and visitors to any one of the three attractions can take their ‘proof of entry’ from their first visit to either of the other two attractions and gain reduced admission.

It is hoped that the SCF partnership will benefit the three separate attractions by pooling knowledge & skills and sharing resources to maximise limited funding. In an ever demanding environment, small museums and visitor attractions are having to find new ways to stand out from the crowd – what better way than to stand together?

For further information on Newhaven Fort, to book a group visit or to find out about a special event, please call 01273 517622, or visit the website http://www.newhavenfort.org.uk/

ENDS

Note to Editor:

Newhaven Fort is an award-winning visitor attraction, open to the public from March to October. The fort offers visitors the opportunity to experience a day out with a difference, as they step into wartime Britain and follow in the footsteps of people who lived through the first and second World Wars. The massive walls, ramparts, tunnels and gun emplacements all fire the imagination, and the clifftop location offers stunning, far-reaching views across Seaford Bay, Newhaven Port and the English Channel.

Newhaven Fort is open daily from 10.30am until 6.00pm (or dusk, if earlier). http://www.newhavenfort.org.uk/

SCF: Newhaven Fort and the Redoubt Fortress are owned and operated by separate local authorities, Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council. The Martello Tower is owned by Seaford Town Council and operated by the Seaford Museum & Historical Society.

The partnership was created in 2006 and aims to promote the three attractions by raising the profile through partnership working.

For further press information, please contact Serena Costello on 01273 484194.