VISITORS to Bury Art Museum are being given the opportunity to crack a code which has remained unsolved for nearly a century.

Among a series of World War One-related exhibits and displays on show is a pocket book and a coded message sent in 1916 by Colonel Frederick Arthur Woodcock, who was connected to the town’s Woodcock’s solicitors. To this day, it has not been broken.

Adam Carter, reference and information services librarian, said: “In his pocket book we found the key to crack the code, but no one has been able to crack it.”

Anyone who can unravel the mystery stands the chance to win a prize, including free family history Find My Past vouchers.

Among the displays at the museum is one entitled “Achilles in the Trenches”, featuring wartime objects including Zeppelin memorabilia and art from local residents.

Another exhibition is named “Young Men of Bury who are Fond of Horses”, based on the museum’s collection of recruitment posters and so-called “dead men’s pennies”.

These were World War One brass memorial plaques which were issued to the next of kin of all British and Empire armed services personnel who died in the Great War.

Another fascinating display is “Miss Openshaw's Scrapbook”, which relates to the Windermere Ladies Orchestra, who played in Bury to raise funds for the war effort.

The displays will run for the next 12 months.