A NEW-LOOK brighter museum with new exhibits, including a Victory in Europe 80 special welcomes visitors this summer in Tavistock.

Tavistock Museum has reopened for the summer season with new exhibits and a whole refreshed look which is backed by many more of the museum’s treasures seeing the light of day for the first time. The new-look galleries follow on from the major structural work completed last year and a push to increase accessibility and appeal to those with mobility issues and to people with visual impairment.

A special exhibition tells the story of a WWII evacuee who arrived in Tavistock aged three, with his family from the bombed out East End of London.

Lesley Holliday, museum manager, said: “A huge amount of work has gone into making the museum feel more welcoming with a refresh. We hope visitors will find it a brighter and they will spend more time browsing because we have more items on display. There’s now also more space for items which don’t fit into any themed exhibition on the wooden shelving which we have also newly uncovered.

“We went through the collections and have found things that have been packed away for many years and never been on show. People have thoughtfully donated their prized possessions to us as custodians and for safe keeping. So, it’s our responsibility to make the most of them.

“My favourite is the fashion section with new ladies undergarments and a lovely embroidered jacket or waistcoat. We also have a special VE 80 Day exhibition which will have posters designed by primary schools and the story of a wartime evacuee from London and his family.”

Long-term exhibits which have been give a makeover include local mining of tin, copper and arsenic, educational aids for primary schools and a display about various traders and what they have sold in Tavistock in the past. One curious item is a measuring stick devised to help solve or prevent disputes in the town’s pannier market by checking the stall space allocated to the inch.

Another of the many unexpected objects is an old-fashioned rechargeable battery from decades ago, long before sustainability was an issue.

The exhibition have been enlivened with some voice recordings, including a cockney accent about the wartime blitz and a speaking life-size mannequin Benedictine monk shrouded in his black cloak, startling visitors. Also, visitors can take a trip back to a time when Tavistock boasted not one, but two railway stations and find out why Sir Francis Drake has become a controversial figure.

A mini museum has been opened on the ground floor with a virtual reality and video show, to give a taster of many of the displays upstairs. This enables people with mobility limitations to enjoy collections without having to climb stairs, while it is planned to provide special visual impairment viewers.

Tavistock Museum is open 11am–3pm Tuesday to Saturday, from April 1 to October 31. All other times by prior arrangement only. School visits are welcome if booked.