Tanks for the memory

RAY COLLECTS HUGE WAR MEMORABILIA HOARD IN HIS DINING ROOM

- DOUGLAS WHITBREAD

AN AMATEUR historian who found Second World War helmets in derelict air raid shelters of demolished homes in Manchester as a boy has now amassed a huge £50,000 collection of military memorabilia.

Ray Fricker has collected roughly 900 pieces from the First and Second World Wars that now cover the walls and floor of his dining room.

The 67-year-old has created a dedicated 'war room' in his three-bed family home with machine guns, gas masks, carvings from POW camps and letters from soldiers.

Ray said despite the collection's impressive value, his motivation has always been to look after the artefacts for future generations.

He said: "I don't buy to make a profit I buy to save. I've got letters, I've got diaries, and I've got stuff from prisoner of war camps, where people have made things.

"And I've got a shell that landed on the British side in World War One. It went straight down into the dugouts, and it never went off."