The Green Howards Regimental museum was formed in 1922 from items donated from First World War servicemen. To mark the centenary and the 65,000 Yorkshire men who joined the ‘Green Howards’ the museum redeveloped and refurbished three of its galleries. The central staircase was removed to create more space to display its national renowned collection and offer interactive activities for families.

Activities included training 50 volunteers to collect oral histories, running family history sessions and delivering workshops for schools and families. Staff and volunteers also ran a series of ‘Collecting the Collection’ weekends, photographing and loaning objects and pictures owned by local people which could fill the gaps in their collection.

Lynda Powell, Director, said “Many schools didn’t visit us because they needed a full day of activities to justify the travel time. This was something we couldn’t offer on our own so we joined up with other attractions. Many had never done education activities before so it was only through Heritage Lottery Funding that they could take the risk to employ an education officer. After the project we will have the evidence to show that a post is financially sustainable.”