THERE is treasure in the heart of Worcester, if you know where to look for it.

It doesn't come in the form of gold bars, precious jewels or even cash but rather in the rich threads weaved together over many years to create the history of Worcestershire and the people who have lived here for centuries.

This knowledge of the way we connect with those who have gone before us is precious - but also fragile.

One place you may catch a glimpse of some of these threads is in Worcestershire's regimental museum.

The museum can be found in the Worcestershire Soldier galleries, within Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, in Foregate Street, and in the accompanying archives in Dancox House in the Army Reserve Centre, in Pheasant Street.

This collection of historical artefacts and documents includes much from the old Worcestershire Regiment which, in recent years, has amalgamated with other regiments to become the Mercian Regiment.

The museum is home to 11,564 objects including precious Victoria Cross medals, hundreds of weapons, portraits, diaries, regimental silver, oil paintings, letters, commissions and even the original indentures from the regiment's beginnings as Farrington's regiment.

Some of the items in the museum are unique and cannot be seen anywhere else.

Around 15,000 visitors go to the museum each year while others make appointments to see certain elements of the archives for research purposes.

But, as we reported earlier this week, this easy access to the past for Worcestershire people is under threat after the Ministry of Defence said it would stop giving the museum £20,000-a-year funding from this April.

The cut is part of a long-term plan by the MoD to reduce the number of museums it supports, providing for only one museum for each of the current British Army regiments.

The museum must find new ways to support itself, and fast, or the people of Worcestershire face losing access to some of their military treasures.

So what might be lost?

There is much to see at the museum. Among the exhibits are a pocket watch that bears the dent from where a bullet struck it, the remains from one of the regiment's colours, all that was left after they had been wrapped around a dying soldier, and a letter sent from home to a soldier in the battlefield.

There is much more and the items on display represent only five per cent of those held by the museum.

Here we show you a few of the most-prized items that could be lost to the public if the museum were to close.

*Victoria Cross medals: The Victorian Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour and there are six held in the museum. Among them is that of Private Frederick Dancox, a man from St John's, in Worcester. He was with the 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment and received the honour at the age of 38 after the Battle of Poelcappelle in Belgium. Lieutenant Richard Gale's medals are also on display and he was awarded the cross for his time as an officer in the Machine Gun Corps in World War One. He was appointed Colonel of the Worcestershire Regiment in April 1950.

* The Beadle Painting: This painting was commissioned by the regiment after the Battle of Gheluvelt when it was the Worcestershire regiment's efforts in taking the French village of Gheluvelt that were credited as helping to save the British army from wider defeat. Gheluvelt Park in Barbourne was named after the 1914 battle. The artist, J P Beadle, depicts the meeting of the 2nd Worcestershire and 1st South Wales battalions in the grounds of the Chateau, Gheluvelt.

*Hitler's Clock: The museum holds an electric clock that was taken from Hitler's conference room in the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, on 26th July 1945. The museum was given the clock by Major HF Boddington who discovered it when he was escorting Winston Churchill through the Chancellery after it had been captured by the Russians.

*World War One body armour: The armour on display in the museum belonged to Private AW Tunkiss of the 1/8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He wore it in France, 1916, but was wounded in November that year and discharged from the army in March 1917. The armour would probably not have stopped a direct hit but was a confidence or morale boost for the soldier.

It is difficult to put a price on losing these treasures. Some are unique, some are valuable, some are just plain interesting.

But it is not just military history buffs who should be alarmed, as John Paddock, the museum's curator explained.

He said: "The link to the county and the militia go back to the middle ages. The Worcestershire regiment has been intimately associated with the county since the 1780s.

"We lose all this at our peril.

"In the past nearly all the men who fought and served were drawn from old Worcestershire or the part of Birmingham next to it.

"It's very much an intimate part of the social history of the county.

"It's not just about war but a big part of the social make-up of the county.

"Everybody who lives in Worcestershire has someone in their family who served in world war one or world war two or had a role in the military.

"It's just a part of the history of the region and it's the history of the people of the county.

"That's the important part and the danger is it will be lost forever."