A MUSEUMS service is celebrating its most successful year to date, after attracting more than a million visitors.

In the past seven months, the Tyne and Wear museums service, which manages ten museums and galleries, has seen visitor figures climb to a record 1,082,954.

Newcastle's Discovery Museum contributed to the success by launching phase one of its £12m development scheme this month.

This involved installing a raised glass roof over Turbina Hall, two new galleries, the Newcastle Story, the Science Maze, as well as a glass lift and a new staircase.

The Newcastle Story is the first permanent gallery devoted to the history of Newcastle from Roman times to the present, while the Science Maze is an interactive fun zone combining hands-on displays, huge working engines and Tyneside inventions.

Another success story has been the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, which have attracted more than 380,000 people in the five months since they opened.

Arbeia Roman Fort, in South Shields, has also had a busy year, with Shipwrecked, an exhibition of Roman objects washed ashore at South Shields.

The Hancock Museum, in Newcastle, attracted more than 30,000 visitors to its recent Walking with Dinosaurs exhibition.

Councillor Barney Rice, chairman of Tyne and Wear Joint Museums Committee, said: "A million visitors in just seven months demonstrates the popularity of Tyne and Wear museum venues and highlights the huge steps we are taking to constantly improve facilities and overall visitor experience.