Monday 5 May - 3.00 pm – Ventnor Library – Tickets £Free

This is the last diary entry my great uncle Frank made; at last he left the prisoner-of-war camp at Fürstenberg - but only to go to Copenhagen! He had volunteered to work there helping to repatriate other prisoners. He finally got back to the UK on 31 January 1919. He was a remarkable man.

Local sculptor and, more recently, writer, Jamie Vans met his great uncle only once before Frank passed away in 1955, but it was enough to make an impression. Jamie has edited a book that chronicles his great uncle’s experiences during WW1, starting with his enlisting at the age of 46 in 1914 through to his return to the UK in 1919, and having been awarded a Military Cross along the way. A fascinating insight into a very eventful life lived nearly 100 years ago.

Some advance copies of the book will be for sale after the talk.

VETERAN VOLUNTEER - Memoir of the Trenches, Tanks and Captivity 1914 – 1919 by Frank Vans Agnew (Ed. Jamie Vans) is to be published in May 2014 by Pen & Sword Books.