HorsePower, The Museum of the King’s Royal Hussars in Winchester, has reopened following a seven month, £360,000 refurbishment.

Part funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund – which provided £144,000 – and partly through donations from Old Comrades of the Regiment, charitable trusts and a number of City Livery Companies, the project has seen two of the galleries divided up and new interpretation of the displays.

Regimental Secretary Major Patrick Beresford said: “The museum first opened in 1980 and although it moved and re-opened in 1990, little modernisation had taken place.

“The aim of the refurbishment was to make the museum more accessible to the non military specialist and this has been achieved through simpler interpretation of the displays and a wider range of interactive activities.

“The old museum had much of the collection on open display, vunerable to dust and dirt, touching by visitors and theft. The new museum protects the collection and displays it in a more professional, modern way yet still provides hands on items and interactive exhibits for visitors.”

The new-look museum was designed by H&H Design and H&H Creative, part of H&H Group and was project managed by Christine Beresford of CDB Solutions,

The cavalry museum, which tells the story of the mounted soldier on horse and now in tanks, was officially reopened by Prince Michael of Kent, who served in the regiment.