MEDALS won by local heroes in conflicts spanning generations will go on display for the first time, thanks to funding of almost £50,000.

A Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £49,900 will allow The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Museum, at Aykley Heads, Durham, to give its medal room an overhaul.

The Durham County Council-run museum has more than 3,500 awards, including seven Victoria Crosses, but due to a lack of space, the vast majority have never been put on public display.

Now, thanks to the funding, the collection of medals will be cleaned up and will be mounted on display boards.

A computer touch screen will enable people to trace particular medals, and worldwide access to the collection will be provided through a database on the county council website.

Major Randal Cross, county secretary of the DLI, said: "A new, highly secure medal room opened in 1988 with about 1,000 medals, and was widely held to be one of the finest regimental medal displays in the country.

"Its success was largely achieved by focusing on the men behind the medals, with personal stories and, in many cases, photographs of the soldiers.

"The DLI medal collection now contains over 3,500 orders, decorations and medals belonging to more than 2,500 men."

The vast majority of the collection was won in the First and Second World Wars, mainly by local soldiers.

Maj Cross said: "In the autumn, work will start on an Internet database, followed by the publication of a popular history booklet focusing on the men behind the medals, and educational packages.

"The DLI trustees will be contributing around £15,000 as match funding, and are delighted that their application to the HLF has been successful."

Keith Bartlett, the HLF's North-East manager, said: "This is a fantastic project, and we are really pleased that we are able to support it.

"Not only will more of the DLI's medal collection go on display, but people will be able to find out about the soldiers and the stories behind them."

Among the medals to go on display for the first time are those won by Francis Gilfrid Maughan and his sons, Francis Alfred Collingwood and Gilfrid James Maughan, all from Newcastle. Francis Gilfrid was a lieutenant colonel in the First World War, winning the Distinguished Service Order and the French Croix de Guerre.

His elder son, Francis Alfred, served as a major in the Second World War, winning several medals and being mentioned in despatches, and Gilfrid James received the OBE after serving as commanding officer in the DLI's last campaign, in Borneo, in 1966.