THE Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum has a 'safe' future, according to its director, following the launch of a review of the county's museum service.

The £3.2m military museum in Woodstock was officially opened by Princess Anne in September 2014 and charts the history of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars with archives and displays.

The new museum was built within the grounds of the Oxfordshire Museum in Park Street and last week it emerged that the county council's museum service, based in Woodstock, could become an independent trust and move out of the town.

The review is being led by Ashmolean Museum director Alexander Sturgis, after the service's budget was cut to £488,000 - 36 per cent less than 2011.

Ursula Corcoran, director of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, said she was confident that the attraction's position on the site was not under threat.

She said: "We lease the land from Oxfordshire County Council on a 99-year lease - we are safe.

"The council has a responsibility to us as our landlord to ensure that we have access through Fletcher's House at the front into our museum.

"Our visitors are also Oxfordshire Museum visitors but I don't think the review threatens what we do in any way.

"The desire to see the history of the two regiments and the history of family members who have fought in the wars will continue.

"We are aware of the discussions taking place and have been given an assurance that we will be part of subsequent discussions."

Ms Corcoran said she hoped that the military museum could be given 'more of a presence' at the entrance to the Oxfordshire Museum.

She added: "We would like to have more of a stake in welcoming people in the reception area off Park Street."

In September, as part of centenary commemorations of the Battle of the Somme, SOFO staff and volunteers appealed for families to bring in First World War photographs, letters, diaries and objects.

Experts from SOFO, the Western Front Association and other organisations were available to talk to visitors about the significance of their memorabilia.

The OBLI collections were housed in Cowley Barracks in Oxford until it closed in 1959.

Then they switched to Slade Park Territorial Army base, which closed in 2008, and onto Ministry of Defence premises in Caversfield, near Bicester.

The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust was formed in 2000 to bring archive material from the regiments under one roof.

According to Mr Sturgis, appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in 2014, the county's museum service was in a 'challenging position' and every option would be considered.