DEVELOPERS of the £19m National Army Museum North at Catterick will find out on December 9 whether their bid for European grant aid has been successful.

If the £6.7m is agreed, the museum could welcome its first visitors in the summer of 2005.

Project managers outlined details of the galleries, exhibits and other aspects of the development on land next to Marne barracks, beside the A1.

Three curved main display areas would house military vehicles from the National Army Museum at Chelsea and the vehicle collection at Beverley in East Yorkshire.

A "contextual" gallery would recreate environments in which vehicles and soldiers have seen action, including snowy mountains, jungle and desert.

The complex would also include smaller exhibition space, a 300-seat lecture theatre, education suite, meeting rooms, conference facilities, library, shop and caf.

There would also be outdoor exhibition space, picnic areas, a memorial poppy meadow, woodland and a military driving course.

The listed Oran House, a dilapidated eighteenth century manor house on the site, would be restored and turned into a hotel.

Unveiling the detailed proposals on Wednesday, David Smurthwaite, assistant director of museum services at the National Army Museum, Chelsea, said up to 150 military vehicles would come to the 130-acre Catterick site.

The Chelsea site was no longer large enough to display the whole collection, and officials had searched for ten years for a suitable site elsewhere in the country.

"This is a very historic site," he said. "Its military history goes back 2,000 years to the Romans. There is a pre-Norman motte and bailey castle, lots of First and Second World War remains as well as relics from the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 and the RAF from 1918."

The museum would concentrate on the period from 1880, when modern vehicles began to replace horse-drawn ones, to the present day.

"It will take a social history approach, looking at what it was like to be a soldier and with exhibitions on food, medicine, clothing and so on," said Mr Smurthwaite.

The project would create about 250 jobs, and consultants had estimated it would boost the economy of Richmondshire by 5pc.

Initially, the museum would attract an estimated 80,000 visitors a year, growing to 130,000 by year five.

Education would be a large part of the development's role, with regular school parties, training in restoration and curatorial skills for young and retired people, and training for soldiers from nearby Marne barracks and Catterick Garrison.

If the project receives planning permission from Richmondshire District Council on December 3 and things run smoothly, construction work could begin as early as next June.

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