A museum dedicated to preserving a town’s history has been made homeless.

The Sittingbourne Heritage Museum has been based in Unit 22 of The Forum shopping centre since 2019.

However, now it has been told to move its collection elsewhere by the end of November.

The shopping centre’s owners want the unit vacated so it can be let to rent-paying businesses.

The museum was, until now, allowed to use the unit rent-free under a long-standing arrangement for charities, which had been renewed annually.

The unit was also the home of CSI: Sittingbourne - a unique conservation science laboratory.

Allen Whitnell, chairman of Sittingbourne Heritage Museum, said: "This is unavoidable and is being done for perfectly legal and commercial reasons.

"We are grateful to the various owners over the years to have been granted this space and the community has benefitted enormously.

"Now we have just six weeks to pack up and move out.

"We don't at this moment have anywhere to go."

Secretary Sally Wright added: “Being a charity, we really don’t have an awful lot of money in the pot, so we’re just looking for somewhere secure to store what we can.”

The museum, founded in the mid-1990s by former councillor and Westlands teacher Peter Morgan, is run entirely by volunteers.

It has never charged admission, instead relying on donations, and welcomes around 25 visitors on each of its open days.

“Our collection covers everything from the First World War through to the 1950s and 60s,” Sally said.

“People love the kitchenalia displays, and we also have items from local businesses that no longer exist.

“Just the other day someone donated a vintage cleaning product they’d found in their cupboard.”

The trust, which has a committee of eight, also researches and publishes local history books.

For now the main priority is to safeguard the artefacts.

Sally added: “It would be lovely to move straight into somewhere new where we could display again, but that’s asking a lot.

“If we could just have somewhere secure to store everything, it would be a huge help.”

The museum, which used to be in East Street, hopes publicity will lead to offers of affordable storage or even new premises to keep Sittingbourne’s heritage accessible for future generations.

The Forum shopping centre in Sittingbourne was purchased in December by Vanguard Properties UK Ltd.

The new owners have been approached for a comment.