Family amazed to be reunited with WW2 photo album

The family of a man who worked as a firefighter during World War Two have said they are amazed to be reunited with photos of him from the period.

Workers at a scrap yard found an album in a car that was set to be destroyed and sent it to Kent Fire & Rescue Service.

The service identified Albert Scrivens, also known as Bob, as the firefighter in the pictures and tracked down his family.

Mr Scrivens was part of the Herne Bay Auxiliary Fire Service in the 1930s before becoming a leading fireman for the National Fire Service during World War Two.

As well as helping fight the fires, he was one of the official photographers for the service and would regularly take images of the incidents and crews.

His grandchildren, Claire Hurton and Nick Scrivens, grew up with their grandad working at the family photography business in Herne Bay.

Ms Hurton said she knew he had taken photos during the Blitz in London and photos of bombing in Canterbury but did not realise he was a leading fireman.

She said: "A lot of people in Herne Bay do know of him, because of the photography, but no one ever mentioned that he was a firefighter, so it's been amazing to find this out about him. I'm really proud of him."

His grandson, Nick Scrivens, said it was "fascinating" to see the pictures and find out more about the history, adding: "We talk about the Army, the navy and the air force lots but we don't talk about the fire service and what they did exactly."

Alex Pearson, Ms Hurton's daughter and great granddaughter of the firefighter, said she had been documenting her family's history.

"I've spent the past year going through all of our family's stuff and Albert took most of those photos so now there's something of him to go in there," she added.

The fire service said it believed some of the photos in the album were more than 100 years old and taken by Albert's father, Frederick Scrivens, who started the photography business in Herne Bay.

The album ended up in the scrap yard because it had been given to Ms Pearson by her grandmother, but before she had a chance to look at it, she was involved in a crash that resulted in her car being scrapped and the album lost.

"I'm amazed at how it's worked its way back to us," she said.

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