A NEW glimpse through the walls of the hoped-for Swindon Museum has been shared by designers.

A cross-sectional picture that will delight fans of technical drawings, it takes you through six floors of the new museum.

The image is the latest to be released by the team behind the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust.

Rod Hebden, the trust’s director, unveiled the new view at the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

He said: “These are hot off the press.”

The images have been drawn up by architects Make and follow a fly-through video of the museum released last week.

A £10million funding bid will be submitted to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) at the beginning of next month.

As part of the application process, HLF officers assessing the bid will be invited to wear a virtual reality headset – walking them through the designs.

HLF trustees will make a decision on the funding bid next April.

More than 50 people packed into a theatre at Swindon Dance on Thursday night for the AGM of the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

Committee member Ray Ward, who has been involved in the group since the early 1990s, said: “50 people - that was unheard of in those days. It’s a very exciting time for the museum and if we get behind the bid it could actually happen.”

Sophie Cummings, curator at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, gave a snapshot of a busy year – one that has seen the Bath Road museum double its opening times and put on dozens of exhibitions.

One of the hottest exhibits of the year was painter Vanessa Bell’s Nude with Poppies, she said. The 1916 oil painting has this year featured in a major exhibition of Vanessa Bell’s paintings at the famous Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Sophie said: “Requests for the painting have come in to take it to Bristol, London and even further afield.”

Next year, the painting will travel to the world-renowned Pompidou Centre in Metz, eastern France. It will also go to the Royal West of England Academy and London’s Barbican.

Speaking after the AGM, Sophie added: “As well as celebrating the work of this talented female artist, it shows how Swindon’s art collection is highly regarded in Britain and Europe.

“Loaning works of art shares paintings that would otherwise be in store. We love the idea of a visitor to the Pompidou admiring the painting, and then spotting Swindon on the label nearby.”

Curator Sophie said that the museum hoped to win new funding later this year to help conserve a 100-year-old Herbarium.

Collected by Aldbourne-based Emily Todd, it consists of 9,000 pressed flowers and plants.

Sophie said: “The funding if successful will conserve all 9,000 pressed plants. But we will also digitise them, so people can see this wonderful collection from the comfort of their own home.”