Fifty years of the Bermuda Regiment are now on display at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

It’s a celebration of the organisation’s history, done in partnership with The Bermuda Regiment Charitable Trust and the Bermuda Regiment 50th Anniversary Committee.

The relatively small space of the Rick Faries Gallery has been utilised well. Well laid out, the exhibition comprises a diverse collection of historical regimental artefacts, paintings and memorabilia mainly from the 20th century onwards.

It offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of the Bermuda Regiment and its predecessor units — the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps — established by legislation in 1892. Militias had existed since Bermuda’s settlement in 1612 but were disbanded by 1815 following the American War of Independence. This was in part due to the regular army being deployed with the establishment of the Royal Naval base in 1795.

Amid the glinting cups and medals some of the most striking artefacts are the possessions of soldiers. They provide an effective narrative element to the exhibit. For example, the miniature teddy bear and dog tags belonging to Harold Trimingham of the BVRC are intriguing. His name is just legible through the heavy patina of 100 years. The little bear, grey and worn, is a poignant symbol of the human aspect to conflict. You wonder about the soldier’s fate. Two hundred and fifty officers and men of the BMA volunteered to make up Bermuda’s relatively sizeable contingent, given its size and population, to the First World War. The green regimental drum displays the names of infamous battles in which they fought including Ypres, Neuve Chapelle and the Somme. A military issue canvas shoe still has a soldier’s name on the insole.

The “Swagger Stick” baton has personality that lives up to its colourful name but an accompanying description, however brief, of its context within military history would helped complete its story.

The exhibit includes numerous vintage photographs that detail life of the soldiers in the two units. A picture shows soldiers from the BMA at the Royal Artillery Depot, Woolwich, UK (1953). Incidentally (a reference for football-crazy Bermuda) the London team Arsenal had its origin there. A picture of members building a Bailey bridge looks as if it was in Europe but a closer look reveals a Bermuda landscape.

Conscription was reintroduced in 1960 and finally the two units were amalgamated with the formation of the Bermuda Regiment in September 1965 with the Governor as Commander-in-Chief. The show includes paintings in public and private collections marking significant ceremonial milestones in regimental history. A photograph of HRH Princess Margaret shows her presentation in 1965 of the Regiment’s colours — the first of three — and the Queen’s Royal Visit in 2009. Otto Trott’s vibrant watercolour shows HRH The Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Margaret’s successor as the Regiment’s honorary Colonel-in-Chief), presenting new colours in November 2010.

The show has a broad appeal and is an enjoyable dip into what must be a legion of material the Bermuda Regiment possesses in its proud history.

The exhibit runs at the Botanical Gardens gallery through July 19.