Polishing 3,000 badges and buckles and 3,750 medals will be keeping Green Howards Regimental Museum volunteer Don Whitaker busy for the next two months.
Every year the museum closes for two months over Christmas - and December and January are the busiest time for staff and volunteers.
This year Don, who has been a museum guide for the past four years, is helping to make sure that all the medals, cap-badges and buckles on display in the museum's Medal Room are in sparkling form for the reopening of the museum at the beginning of February.
He is helping museum assistant Paul Cooper in the task. "I enjoy doing the badges and buckles," said the 73-year-old, who lives on the site of the former Green Howards depot on Gallowgate Hill in Richmond.
"They take quite a bit of work, using old toothbrushes and plenty of elbow grease, but it's very satisfying. It's a change from the months when we are open.
"I enjoy meeting the visitors and showing them round the museum. They ask very interesting questions, and I look forward to my days here."
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