A BIG PUSH is underway to move the National Poo Museum into Sandown Battery.

The quirky Island attraction, which started life at the Isle of Wight Zoo, is on the move and seeking financial, and other, donations.

The team behind the museum is appealing for celebrities to donate some famous poo, and members of the public can pay for the privilege for £1,500 as part of a new crowdfunding campaign.

The museum has a serious side, as it delves into the ecology and biology of animal droppings, and explores the taboo around bowel problems and poo-related health problems.

The team has now found the perfect place to call home — Sandown Battery, opposite the Heights leisure centre. The fortification is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England, and was built to protect the Island from French invasion during the mid 1800s, but has lain derelict for years.

The Isle of Wight Council is allowing the museum to use it for free while they get set up, and has donated £15,000 towards renovation works.

Cllr Wayne Whittle, cabinet member for regeneration and business development, said: "We think the National Poo Museum is the perfect idea to regenerate this well-loved part of Sandown, and good for the roses. This is a movement the Isle of Wight Council can get behind!"

Nigel George, one of the museum directors, said: "We realised very quickly that our small exhibition was becoming something much bigger than the travelling show it was. It became clear we needed a real home.

"Sandown Battery is small but beautifully formed with battlements, gardens, secret tunnels and a moat. We’ll be moving into three small buildings at ground level. The two gatehouses will become the museum and a cafe/shop.

"The derelict public toilet will be reopened in part as our 'loo lab' for practical work on exhibits and storage and partly as a freely accessible public toilet which we’ll maintain ourselves. We aim to make this the world’s most brilliantly interesting public toilet, an experience worth dropping in for."

As a not-for-profit organisation, the aim is to make the National Poo Museum free to enter, but funding is needed to turn the battery into an attraction.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched.

TV presenter Kate Humble backed the museum, tweeting: "The world will be a much poorer place without the National Poo Museum. I poolitely (!) beg you to support this fantastic institution."

To help the fundraising efforts, museum founder Dan Roberts and Nicola Winsland are pledging to attempt a navigational world-first by rowing across the Solent on a two-seater toilet.

They will undertake the challenge on the Pooey2, a not-yet water-worthy contraption, when the crowdfunding reaches the £5,000 mark.

The museum will be open to the public this summer.

Make a deposit at crowdfunder.co.uk/poomuseum