Wartime museum - in Norfolk garden shed - EDP24 A hobby that started with a steel helmet 25 years ago has expanded into a museum built with love and hidden in one man's back garden. Robin Grand's collection of wartime memorabilia would not look out of place in the Imperial War Museum. But instead it is in a garden in Taverham, near Norwich. From rows of gas masks to rifles, bayonets, flying suits and medals, it is all carefully displayed in the sheds Mr Grand has built for the purpose. He will happily spend a weekend cleaning the contents of just two cabinets of many. And nothing gives him more pleasure than letting elderly people look round and remember their wartime days. He said: “I don't believe in things being put in drawers. I think they should be on display. “I love elderly people to come round. They have all got their stories. “One chap called Bill came round and it brought back so many memories there were tears coming from his eyes. I even felt a lump in my throat. He really was taken back. I tool a rifle out of the cabinet and let him hold it - it was the first time he had held one since he packed up [from the army].” Many of the medals and other items belonged to family members, including his wife's relations. Others have been donated to him by people who have seen his collection. His most treasured possessions are the mementoes of his uncle, Sgt Donald Stevenson, from Norwich, who was an air gunner in 101 Squadron of the RAF. He was killed in action at the age of 21, when the plane was shot down 18 miles from the Kent coast on the way back from a raid on Cologne in July 1943. He said: “Mum used to have his photo when I was a kid, and I was fascinated and wanted to know all about him. “If I could only keep one thing I would keep Donny's medals, because he was killed in action. It sounds silly but if I was offered a million pounds for them I wouldn't part with them.” The collection began almost exactly 25 years ago, on a trip to the Strumpshaw steam rally. His son Paul, then aged nine, wanted a second world war steel helmet used on the Home Front, and Mr Grand paid 50 pence for it. Since then the collection has grown and grown. His next project is to build an extension which will be a replica of a wartime shop, complete with shop counter covered in original wartime products such as Sunlight soap powder and dried eggs. Although he loves showing people around, the only thing that offends him is people who try to buy the things on display. “This is not a shop,” he says. “This has taken years to collect.” He says he bought things at the right time, picking them up for a few pounds at car boot sales and auctions rather than spending a fortune. As for Mrs Grand, she says: “I think it is incredible. It is important for him to have a passion.” Mr Grant, who has two sons and two young granddaughters, said he hopes his grandchildren will be interested in his collection. “If anything happens to me I know my sons will carry it on. I want to make sure the family stuff, the medals and so on, stays in the family. “They need to stay in the family for years to come.”
