IT BEEN a very happy New Year for Dorset's museums as three are celebrating windfalls from a fund which backs new projects and promotions.

Bournemouth's Russell-Cotes, Bovington's Tank Museum and the county museum at Dorchester all received cash from DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund.

The Russell-Cotes' Reinterpretation and Reconnecting Project received £115,500. The money will conserve and redisplay three rooms in the historic house, showcasing the best of the museum’s Japanese and world cultures collections.

This funding will enable curators to completely refresh three significant rooms - the Mikado’s Room, which contains pieces from the amazing Japanese collection, considered one of the best in the UK, and the Red and Yellow Rooms, which will display some highlights of the world ethnographic collections and boast some of the best views in Bournemouth.

Museum Director, Sarah Newman, said: “This project will completely renew the museum’s now tired and dated, 20-year-old interpretation to make it relevant and inspiring to today’s audiences.”

Over at at Bovington near Wareham, the Tank Museum received £120,000 for Phase I of the work on its Second World War Galleries Redisplay.

And Dorset County Museum, received a bumper £175,000 for its project Tomorrow’s Museum for Dorset: Collections Care and Access.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, Michael Ellis, said: "We want people up and down the country to enjoy culture and heritage wherever they are. The 35 grants awarded will make important contributions towards improving the visitor experience; ensuring our wonderful collections are open to as many people as possible."