Fusilier museum in Warwick gets funding boost ahead of its reopening at its new home

St John's House which currently houses the Fusilier Museum. Photo supplied

A museum in Warwick has been a funding boost which will help with running costs and preparation ahead of its re-opening at its new home in the town.

The Fusilier Museum, which is currently based in St John's House, has been awarded a grant of £22,566 by the Arts Council England.

More than £100 million has been awarded to hundreds of cultural organisations across the country including the museum Warwick in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund.

A look at the trench, which will be inside the new museum. Photo supplied

The museum tells the history of the county infantry regiment from 1674 until today and the personal stories of the soldiers of Warwickshire and the West Midlands.

The grant will be used for running costs – the rent, salary of two permanent members of staff, and utilities.

It will enable the museum to keep running and preparing for re-opening next year at Pageant House in the centre of Warwick.

At the new site, there will be a new family-friendly exhibition including a re-created First World War trench experience with smells and the memorial plaque to Lieutenant Euan Lucie-Smith who was the first officer to join and die in the British Army in that conflict from a mixed heritage background.

A graphic of how the outside of the new museum will look. Photo supplied

Stephanie Bennett, curator at the Fusilier Museum, said: “I am thrilled to have been given this grant. It is so important to enabling the museum to have a secure future and to be a community museum for everybody to access.

"I am really looking forward to welcoming local people back into the museum in 2022 to discover for themselves the fantastic new exhibition and engage with our inspiring events and activities.

"We are keen to be fully open again and part of the vibrant heritage sector in the town.”