BRADFORD'S Peace Museum will mark the EU referendum with an exhibition looking at the history of European co-operation.

A Force For Peace will ask visitors to make their own decisions on whether the European Union has helped make the world a safer place, or if it has been a wasted opportunity.

The museum, the only one of its kind in the UK, has also announced increased opening hours from one day to three days a week.

The main showcase of the new exhibition is a replica of the Treaty of Versailles, made shortly after the actual treaty was signed in 1919.

The treaty was signed by the major world powers at the time and marks the end of the First World War. However it is also blamed by many historians as being a contributing factor to the Second World War.

The exhibition copy belonged to former Bradford South MP and Lord Mayor Meredith Farrer Titterington. After his death it came into the possession of Martin Bland, a former teacher at Wyke Manor School and Salt's Grammar School, who used it in many of his history lessons.

It was donated to the Peace Museum several years ago after Mr Bland decided it needed to remain in the city.

The EU referendum will be held on Thursday, June 23 and the exhibition will be updated to reflect the result.

During the course of the exhibition, visitors will be asked to write down their thoughts on the EU and add them to a board, which the museum hopes will reflect the many different opinions people have on the institution.

Shannen Lang, learning officer at the museum, said: "We want the people who come here to decide themselves whether the union has been a force for peace and why they think that. As more stories get published in the news in the run up to the referendum the exhibition will change. And after the referendum we will update the exhibition, so it will change very quickly then."

There will be an opening event for the new exhibition on Thursday, when the museum takes part in the Museums at Night nationwide event. There will be a drinks reception at 5.30pm, followed by introductions to the exhibition and an informal discussion about European cooperation and the upcoming referendum.

The exhibition runs at the Piece Hall Yard museum until the end of July.

Since 2014 the museum has only opened to the public on Thursdays, although it is available to groups by appointment at other times. A combination of fundraising and a grant from the Education Trust means the museum now has the staffing to open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The extended opening times start on May 25.