An exhibition dedicated to Sheppey’s high-flying past has opened up on the site of the world’s first aircraft factory.

A room on land now owned by HMP Standford Hill in Church Road, Eastchurch, by the Old Mill Coffee Shop, has been turned into an aviation annex.

Sheppey Heritage Trust had been trying for years to get a project called Flying Start off the ground but it crash landed after a funding bid to the national lottery fell through.

The ambition stayed alive, however, and with the aid of Blue Town Heritage Centre and inmates at the prison, who helped with the conversion, it finally took off at a public launch on March 20.

Jenny Hurkett, who runs Blue Town Heritage Centre, said: “It’s not a huge room but it’s a start and we hope that it will grow by people bringing in bits and pieces.

“There are exhibitions about the start of aviation and some really interesting bits of memorabilia that haven’t been seen before.”

The annex is now manned by a volunteer from the heritage centre on Saturdays from 10am to 3pm.

Originally based at Muswell Manor, the Short brothers found the early planes could not take off in the boggy land so they moved to higher ground at Eastchurch.