18/05/2026
New donation at the museum:
We at the museum are very grateful to Colin who reached out to us regarding the diary of his great uncle who wished to donate it to the museum.
This particular donation are the wartime memoirs of Francis Ernest Reed who wrote them after the war in October 1921 from the notes, photos and maps he had compiled.
Titled “The Great Adventure” Francis acknowledges himself his account is shaped into a narrative, yet emphasises that every incident is truthful and witnessed by himself, mixing narrative, sketched diagrams, photos and posters. Starting with his enlistment in 1915, Francis documents his time training as a stretcher bearer, before departing for France in 1915, his extensive memoirs covers Loos, the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele before the allied offensive and his eventual demobilisation in 1919. Throughout the book, his account does not soften the realities he encountered and reflects how deeply these experiences affected him.
After leaving the army in 1919, Frank made his home with his brother in Blackpool, living in the basement of the boarding house. His wartime experiences had a lasting impact, believed to be undiagnosed PTSD. In later life, he is remembered by his great niece as a gentle and modest man, prior to his death in 1964.
