A Church Crookham man has won a two-year battle to get a "hidden" portrait of a Gurkha soldier hung in a public place.

The portrait, presented to the town when the fearless fighters left Church Crookham in 2000, had hung in a corridor of Hart District Council’s Fleet offices.

Now it is on display in the Har-lington Centre reception thanks to Martin Bennett, a Fleet resident for 26 years.

He said: “When the Gurkhas left, the town gave them a silver hart statue and they presented us with a portrait of a Gurkha sold-ier. It was quite an event in Fleet and the portrait was presented to the whole town, but no-one could see it. I’ve spent two years trying to get it moved where everyone could see it.

“To start with the problem was trying to find the thing because no-one seemed to know where it was. Then when I did find it I had to get someone with the author-ity to have it moved.

“I wrote letters and saw people in the council but they gave every reason under the sun why it couldn’t be moved. Initially they moved the wrong picture.

“It was on the second floor of the council offices where the general public is not allowed to go, tucked away among a num-ber of other paintings.

“I feel success at last but it’s been a long, long saga.”