THE Green Howards Museum in Richmond museum has opened the 2017 season with an exhibition by a talented textiles student, Rachel Fraser, from Catterick Garrison.

She is a first year student at Cleveland College of Art and Design and her exhibition, Tommy Bodkins – military materials then and now, runs until the end of March.

“We first met Rachel when she started her project. She wanted to look at the collection and our archives to help inspire her,” said museum director, Lynda Powell.

"As her work developed and she came back to see us, we realised that between us we had the makings of an exhibition which could feature rarely seen textiles and fabric objects from the museum collection as well as original work created by Rachel.”

The museum has changed its pricing policy with admission now securing unlimited repeat entry for 12 months.

Three special exhibitions are planned this year.

“I’m so excited to have my exhibition as the first of the year,” said Rachel.

“The pieces in my collection are all related in some way to the museum and the Army, where I've used jackets, weapons, badges and warning signs seen on the perimeter walls of the barracks.

"My work is either screen printed, digitally made, embroidered or a combination of the three. I wanted to look at traditional sewing and print techniques as well as using a sewing machines and software such as Photoshop and Illustrator.”

The Tommy Bodkins of the exhibition title was inspired by combining the slang name for a British soldier with a blunt needle used to draw cord through a hem.

Museum opening times are: Monday to Saturday, 10am-4.30pm (Sundays in July and August). Admission, valid for 12 months, £4.50, concessions £3.50, under-16s free.