The Princess Royal opens Tank Museum's workshops at Bovington in Dorset

The workshop at the Tank Museum in Bovington is the fourth phase of the museum’s redevelopment which has received £14m in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund over the last 12 years.

It is named the ‘Gilchrist Conservation Workshop’ after Peter Gilchrist CB – the outgoing chairman of trustees who has overseen the project. He said the day had been planned 20 years ago when it was decided to make Bovington home to the “best tank museum in the world”.

As she opened the state-of-the-art facility, the Princess Royal expressed how pleased she was that there was a large educational element to it, and she mentioned how it would benefit apprentices and those taking internships.

She congratulated all those involved who contributed to making a success of the museum and raising its profile not just in Dorset but worldwide.

Museum director Richard Smith also addressed the guests and revealed that the first restoration project in the new workshop would be a Churchill tank.