RISQUÉ and euphonium are not words you would usually find together.

Until now.

Eighty years ago, a series of photographs were commissioned showing attractive young women posed with Swindon Museum’s then brand-new collection of musical instruments.

The pictures could have been taken to promote the new collection of instruments from across the globe, curators at the Bath Road museum say.

The images will go on display in the new year, alongside the musical instruments that inspired them.

Sophie Cummings, curator at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, said of the instruments: “It’s one of our oldest collections at the museum. It’s a real mixture of instruments from all around the world – from African drums to Indian sitars as well.

“It’s probably a collection people don’t know we have. They won’t have seen it on display before.”

The instruments were donated by a Mr F Winslow early in the last century, while the black-and-white photographs were snapped by museum curator Charles Gore in 1930.

“The museum featured lots of young ladies with their ankles showing,” curator Sophie said. “We’re trying to match up the instruments to the photographs.”

Both the photographs and instruments have recently been catalogued by the museum’s team of volunteers.

The free exhibition, Face the Music, will open on January 10. It runs until March 3.

For more, visit: www.swindonmuseumandgallery.org.uk.