A wartime photograph of a French café, taken by a Devon soldier in 1940, has been donated to the town’s museum by the soldier’s East Budleigh-based son.

The soldier, Frank Tickell, was billeted at the café, Chez Maxime in Doullens, and made friends with the family who ran it. He took the photo on January 28 1940, just weeks before the town, in the Somme region, was overrun by the German army. Frank survived the war, but two of his brothers were killed.

Exmouth Journal: The photo of Chez Maxime taken by Frank Tickell in 1940The photo of Chez Maxime taken by Frank Tickell in 1940 (Image: Christopher Bodley-Tickell)

His son Christopher Bodley-Tickell received the photo from Frank’s widow in 1990. It prompted him to take a trip to France to lay wreaths on his uncles’ graves – and to visit the café, where he showed local residents the picture taken by his father.

He said: “We had not reckoned on the degree of interest it sparked there and when I was asked to give up the photo for the town museum, I was not yet ready to let go of it! However, 30 years on, and now in my eighties, I really wanted to return it to Doullens.”

Needing the help of a French speaker to liaise with the town hall at Doullens, Mr Bodley-Tickell was inspired to contact the Exmouth and Budleigh Anglo-French Society after seeing an article about them in the Journal.

Catherine Harding from the society said: “We were delighted to be able to help out. The Covid pandemic meant that we had no trips to France planned, but we were able to contact the town hall in Doullens and send them an electronic copy of the photo and a translation of Chris’s account about it.”

Exmouth Journal: Frank Tickell's inscription on the back of his photoFrank Tickell's inscription on the back of his photo (Image: Christopher Bodley-Tickell)

The president of the society Marian Beaumont sent an email in French to the town’s mayor, and received a response that said: “It is with great pleasure that we accept to receive this photo which will undoubtedly find its place in the archives of Doullens and which will be added to the testimony of those who passed through our region during the two world wars.

“Time often reminds us of those who came to fight in our region and who joined the host families where they were able to find comfort and solidarity and a little human warmth.”

The original photo has now been sent to the town hall, for display in Doullens' museum.