Gosport's Diving Museum is given £70,000 by the National Lottery

The project aims to work with the local community to create an accessible and engaging exhibition and learning programme and carry out essential planning for the conservation and management of the building and the operation of the museum.

Gosport borough councillor Kevin Casey, museum director and vice chair of the historical diving society said: ‘We’re delighted that we’ve received this support.

‘This project is a huge step forward for the museum, it will enable us to apply for Round 2 funding which will support our plans to make the story of diving accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

‘We would like to express our thanks to National Lottery players for making this possible.’

Development funding of £72,814 has been awarded by the Heritage Fund to help the Historical Diving Society progress its plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant at a later date.

Since 2011, the museum has been housed in the Grade II* listed No2 Battery, a historically significant building in Stokes Bay.

Built in 1861 as part of Lord Palmerston’s defences of Portsmouth Harbour – which also include the Portsdown Hill forts and the Solent forts in the sea – it is the only one of the five original gun batteries accessible to the public.

In the 1930s, the MoD handed the building to Gosport Borough Council as a civil defence establishment. It was used as a nuclear bunker during the Cold War.

The Diving Museum, in Stokes Bay Road, is the only museum of its kind in the UK.

In May it learned it would be receiving £237,120 from the government’s capital investment programme, and earlier in the year it was also announced that the organisation would receive £100,000 through the Museum Estate and Development Fund from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports to help maintain the condition of the museum.

It is home to more than 7,000 items spanning the entire history of the sport – from the first free divers searching for corals and crustaceans, to the most recent sophisticated equipment used in commercial diving.