The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's (RBWM) plans to give Windsor its own museum have taken a step forward with the appointment of contractors to carry out the work.

The town's historic Grade I listed Guildhall is to be refurbished and equipped and its Maidenhead Room turned into a home for the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum Collection. Tenders from four contractors were accepted on 26 August for the refurbishment works, installation of the museum display, audio visual software and specialist mounts for the exhibits. The Guildhall will close from 4 October for three months to permit the work to go ahead.

When it reopens the museum will tell the story of Windsor and the RBWM through five themed areas - The Royal Borough and its settlements; Military associations; Aeronautical Windsor; Working Windsor; and Life and childhood in Windsor. There will also be a new entrance lobby from the Corn Exchange with audio guides and audio visual presentations illustrating aspects of the collection.

Cllr Simon Dudley, lead member for adult and community services at RBWM said: "It is ridiculous that our museum collection spends much of its time in storage with limited public access. We have an amazing resource that cries out for its own home and I am delighted that we have a solution in the Guildhall - itself the most important and historic building in the council's care." In a further move, the RBWM plans to develop the Guildhall itself as an exhibit in its own right over the next two years, including a virtual tour of the first floor where the chamber holds a display of royal paintings spanning the years between Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II.

A first stage bid for a grant to develop this idea has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund. If successful a second stage bid for funding to cover the actual work would be submitted by the end of the year and, again if successful, the project would start in summer 2011. In the meantime the council is exploring opportunities for attracting a wider range of commercial functions to the Guildhall, such as dinner packages with pre-meal river trips or guided walks, wedding receptions and corporate events.

Image: Windsor Guildhall - WyrdLight-McCallum