Black Beauty author Anna Sewell's birthplace to open as a museum

• ITV News Anglia's Natalie Gray reports on a story-book ending

A charity opening the birthplace of Black Beauty's author as a museum is looking for volunteers.

Anna Sewell House in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was recently taken on by the Redwings horse charity.

The museum is set to open by the end of September and will serve as a tribute to Sewell - who never lived to see the international acclaim her 1877 book received.

Black Beauty was the only book that she published and she died shortly after it was released.

It had enormous success and influenced changes to horse welfare in Victorian Britain, before becoming a hit TV series in the 1970s.

Gemma Walpole, a director at Redwings, said: “The importance of this book cannot be overstated. Black Beauty is one of the most successful novels of all time and was one of the first to use an animal as a narrator.

"Anna said that her purpose was to ‘induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses’.”

Ms Walpole added that the charity was looking for local people to become volunteer guides and help open the building as often as possible.

The role would involve greeting visitors, sharing information about Anna Sewell, Black Beauty and the history of Anna Sewell House, as well as the work of Redwings.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary was established in 1984 and is responsible for over 2,000 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules across the UK.

More information on the volunteer role can be found on the Redwings website.

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