Gateway Hampshire Thoughts On Southampton Getting A Titanic Museum Ahead Of Belfast

Feb. 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Gateway Hampshire is a sales and marketing company based in Southampton and is thrilled to hear that the city is expecting a Titanic memorial Museum. A source from the company said, ‘this will definitely attract more tourists to our city.’ Half a million pounds of lottery money has been given to develop a new Titanic memorial in Southampton. A new museum charting the story of the ill-fated liner could be built in the southern English city in time for the 100th anniversary of the sinking in 2012. This sinking of this almighty ship will never be forgotten.
The £28m project in Southampton, from where the liner set sail in 1912 on her maiden voyage, is set to feature a climb-aboard replica of the ship. But the announcement yesterday has met with anger in Belfast after a similar commemorative project had been turned down for lottery funding. Gateway Kent comments saying, ‘we can understand that the people in Belfast are upset by this announcement.’
The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded almost £500,000 in development funding to the Southampton project, with the potential for a further £4.5m towards construction. The story of the disaster — when the ship hit an iceberg causing the loss of 1,523 lives — and the finding of the wreck will be part of the exhibition. About 4,000 items from the ship are also set to be displayed within galleries.
Plans are currently under way to build a Titanic Signature Project in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. Initially the building was one of three local projects which were in the running for funding from the Big Lottery Fund just two years ago.
The Executive has since agreed to provide half the funding with a range of other agencies, including Belfast City Council, the Harbour Commissioners and Titanic Charitable Foundation also contributing. Former Belfast Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers said it was disappointing that the Belfast project had not |received lottery money, while the Southampton project had been selected.
“It is disappointing to hear that money will be going to another project,’ he said. ‘People seem to forget that Titanic was built in our shipyards at Harland and Wolff. A lot of other cities around the world have claimed Titanic in some way. Ultimately, we have been very slow to catch up and that’s something we need to look at very closely.”
Gateway Hampshire has experienced massive growth since opening their doors this year and please to know that there will be another reason for tourists to visit Southampton.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/sou...
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/sou...