FUELLED solely by a passion for history, an Andover man is organising an insightful display to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Nick Davis, 31, has been working hard to achieve his dream of turning an empty unit in The Chantry Centre into a display to mark the centenary, and his plans have now come to fruition.

Nick has been collating items for the display which is set to run in the windows of the old Argos unit in the centre from October 22 to December 10.

He said: “From the beginning I wanted to do this because I’m a history nut. I’ve always been a history nut, even from a young age. The earliest kind of interest I had was when I was about four or five and my dad showed me my great grandfather’s medals.”

The father-of-one, whose dream it is to work in a museum, added: “I don’t know if Test Valley Borough Council are doing anything like this, I haven’t seen anything advertised.

“That was my worry, that no one was doing anything. So I thought, hang on a minute, I’ve got all the pieces from my collection, lets do something with it.”

Nick previously put on a display at Andover Museum to mark the 1914 centenary of the start of the war, with many items from his personal collection.

He added: “Because I did so well for the 1914 one, I thought ‘right 2018, this is a biggie. I have the passion for military history, I’ve got something here, let’s actually do something with it and actually give something back as an educational tool’.

“Each little piece has its own story. I want people to look at these items and think. It doesn’t have to be massive items either, sometimes they could be the tiniest items like little buttons or dog name tags.

“I think smaller items have a bigger picture.”

Alongside the medley of his own items and those of collectors, Nick hopes members of the community will donate photographs, stories and memorabilia to the public display to help tell the story of the First World War.

He added: “If anyone’s got any stories, I want to reach out to the public and say if you’ve got anything bring it or email me on nick.j.davis@hotmail.com.”

Inspired by the phrase “To forget the past is fuelling future ignorance”, Nick hopes that his display will “inform, shock and make people think.”

He added: “100 years on, it’s still having an impact. I want to be part of that. I want to do my little bit for it, even if it’s a ‘little bit’. I think sometimes little things can make a big noise.”