AN exhibition about the military heroes of the past has seen a museum's visitor numbers shoot up.

Attendances at the Green Howards Museum in Richmond have gone up by 15 per cent since the Victoria Cross exhibition opened earlier this year.

The show has brought together all 18 of the VCs won by the regiment.

Fifteen of the medals have been on permanent show for some time, but the families of the other three winners allowed the museum to borrow them for this exhibition.

One family member, the nephew of Lt Basil Weston has now agreed to allow his medals to remain on permanent loan at the museum.

Curator Maj Roger Chapman said: "Our VCs exhibition has been one of the most successful we have mounted and we are delighted that our visitor numbers have shown such a significant increase while it has been in place.

"Our medal room will continue to display 16 VCs, as well as more than 3000 other medals, but this opportunity to see all 18 VCs comes to an end on 31 October."