Maldon's Combined Military Services Museum (CMSM) has announced a new audio tour, to bring a secret Second World War organisation which "set Europe ablaze" to life.

Visitors to the popular local attraction will have the 'unique' ability to follow the museum's first audio experience, called the Special Operations Executive (SOE) Tour.

A spokesperson for the museum said: "The aim is to provide access to different tours across the museum to help explain some of the artefacts and collections we have.

"It also aims to highlight important artefacts that visitors might overlook.

"This is only available to museum visitors and is free to access."

The team at the Combined Military Services Museum have been working on how to make it more accessible, and to "bring the artefacts to life" for visitors. Organisers hope this will ensure visitors don't miss 'vitally important' aspects of some of the artefacts.

The experience provides information about each piece, and some artefacts even have their own background stories.

In collaboration with Gary Weight (Pegasus Audio Narration), a battlefield tour guide, author, and historical researcher, organisers set up an 'SOE Audio Tour' in part of the museum. Researched and recorded by Gary, the SOE tour consists of 12 parts and will guide visitors around important artefacts in the story of the Special Operations Executive.

To access the Audio tour, users will need to scan the QR codes in the cabinets to open specific audio files to listen to on their mobile phones.

The spokesperson added: "We took the decision about not having audio handsets at the height of COVID, and this way makes it much easier to access."

 The audio tour lasts around 30 minutes, and includes 12 sections:

1. Introduction
2. Recruitment of Members
3. SOE Training
4. SOE Deployment
5. Female Wireless Operator
6. SOE Special Duties Branch
7. Odette and Peter Churchill
8. Museum Wireless Sets
9. German RS20 Wireless Set
10. Lydd Wireless Set
11. Fairbairn and Sykes
12. Riggal Papers

For more information, contact Jason Hulott, Trustee, via email or call 07940 521 056