FOR the first time in almost 150 years, Russian hands have held one of the drums of the Borodino Regiment, captured by the Green Howards after the battle of the Alma.

Maj Alexander Gusev, from St Petersburg, was a guest of the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond, where two of the seven drums taken on the battlefield are on display.

His visit was arranged for him and his wife Anela as a 50th birthday surprise by their daughter, Katia, and her husband, Richard Dye, who live in Darlington. Maj and Mrs Gusev have been staying in the town with them for a ten-day visit.

Curator Maj Roger Chapman took the family on a tour of the museum, and showed them all the Russian equipment captured by the Green Howards after the battle in 1854, the regiment's first battle honour.

As well as the drums, Maj Gusev handled a Russian musket and saw Russian helmets and helmet plates, as well as photographs of the Crimea.

Maj Chapman provided whisky for the visitors and wished Maj Gusev, who serves with the St Petersburg police, a happy 50th birthday.

He told them that the five remaining drums were always on display in the officers' mess of the 1st Battalion the Green Howards wherever they are stationed - currently in Northern Ireland.

Each year, on the anniversary of the Alma in September, they are paraded through the ranks of the battalion, wreathed in laurel, to commemorate the victory.

Maj Chapman said: "It was a pleasure to welcome a Russian army major and his family to the Green Howards Museum, and especially to celebrate Maj Gusev's half-century."