£1 million of funding granted to deliver new displays for Worcestershire's military heritage
£1,045,122 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund has been given to help create four permanent galleries at Worcester's The Commandery
Funding of just over £1 million has been awarded so a project can keep Worcestershire's military past as far back as the 17th century on show.
An announcement made today (8 May) has confirmed The Worcestershire Soldier at The Commandery has received a grant of £1,045,122 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
It means work to create a new permanent home at Worcester's The Commandery for the collections from the regimental museum partners the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire) and Worcestershire Yeomanry Museum, which goes right back to 1694 up until the present day, can progress.
Four galleries will be made that will show off the collection, which features six Victoria Crosses awarded to the Worcestershire Regiment in the First World War in it, while also including personal stories to make them more accessible to the modern day audience.
On getting the funding secured, curator at the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire) Dr John Paddock said: "We’re absolutely delighted and incredibly grateful to the National Heritage Lottery Fund for their very generous support for this project.
"It is all about access to the collection, but also about the sustainability of the two regimental trusts going forward.
"So this has secured the future of both the collection and access to it."
Project has been worked on 'for a number of years'
Funding for the development phase of the project had previously been given by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with additional support through the government's Towns Fund and from the two regimental museum partners and Museums Worcestershire - the joint museum service of Worcester City Council and Worcestershire County Council.
The Worcestershire Soldier exhibition was based at the Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum since the 1970s, with the current displays installed in 2003, but was closed there at the end of August 2025 so it could be moved across the city.
It, and the collections, are currently in storage, with this funding allowing for it to remain on display to the public in the future.
Worcester city councillor Adrian Gregson, who's the chair of the joint museums committee which is run between Worcestershire County Council and Worcester City Council, said the announcement was great news.
"We’ve been working on this for a number of years, there's been the move from the city art gallery and museum building to the plan to come here," he said.
"The whole thing is predicated on getting this funding, so now we've got the money, that’s absolutely fantastic.
"We built towards that and now we know we can deliver what we promised at the start of this whole project."
It's expected the new displays will open in early 2028.