THE contributions made by local men and women to the First World War effort are key areas of the Museum of Carpet’s current exhibition.

During the creation of the In The Firing Live exhibition, a call was made by the museum for local people to loan objects which could be put on display.

Many residents came forward, including Andra Kleanthous, a life member of the Friends of the Museum of Carpet, who wanted to make sure that her grandfather’s story was featured.

Her grandfather, Louis Clifford Bratt, was born in Baxter Street, Kidderminster, and joined the Royal Engineers in 1915.

As part of the exhibition, Andra was keen that her grandfather’s pocket book, which details his travels whilst with the Armed Forces corps, was put on display alongside his badges and medals.

He was a talented draftsman, and had ambitions of becoming a carpenter prior to the outbreak of war.

Two of his sketchbooks are currently on display at the museum which shows Louis’ intricate drawings of architectural features he saw on his journey through France, while also on display are carvings he made from chalk blocks taken from the trenches at the battle of Loos in 1916.

Louis was involved in battle at both Ypres and the Somme, and was invalided with shell shock in 1916.

He spent over a year recovering at a military hospital in the UK and once he left the Front, he never went back, instead returning to Kidderminster to live with his wife, Nell.

A final poignant item on display is a photograph of Louis with Nell to whom he proposed in a love letter written whilst out in the trenches.

Andra said: “My grandfather was one of the many hundreds of Kidderminster men prepared to do their bit for King and country. I am extremely proud of him for that.

“I treasure his notebooks as they show what a talented man he was but they are also a small piece of beauty from what would have been a dreadful conflict.”

Jodie Edwards, museum manager, said: “The people of Kidderminster have been really good at coming forward with all sorts of items to help us create this exhibition.

“For many like Andra, by having an object on show at the museum, it is a moment to celebrate the contribution that their relative made to the war effort.”

To accompany its exhibition, the museum has produced a montage of photographs of men killed during the First World War.

These images all featured in a column of The Shuttle, called In the Firing Line, which ran for the first 18 months of the war.

Jodie added: “It was really appropriate to name our exhibition after the Shuttle column.

“It is a fitting tribute that so many of the men who died were honoured in the paper for making the ultimate sacrifice.

“Several of our visitors have come along and seen a photograph of their relative in the exhibition; for some it has been the first time that they have actually seen what their relative actually looked like.”

The items of Louis Bratt, along with other memorabilia loaned by members of the public, are on show until the end of the exhibition on December 19.

Elsewhere in the museum is now a copy of the Book of Remembrance produced by the Kidderminster War Memorials Conservation Trust.

The book features the names of all those men killed in conflicts from the Boer War to the present time.

Visitors are able to come and find the names of their relatives in the Book of Remembrance when the museum is open between 10.30am and 4.30pm Tuesday to Saturday.