BY his own admission, Peter Harland is an inveterate collector.

“I collect anything really ... a bit of this, that and t’other!” the 78-year-old retired driving examiner from York admits.

Among the items he has amassed over the years is a collection of old postcards. And when he saw an old photograph of the Yorkshire Regiment on the letters page of The Press, he brought us in a selection from his own collection showing various Yorkshire army units from times past.

The photographs all seem to show pictures taken before the First World War.

One, dated May 25, 1904, shows the unveiling of the Yorkshire Regiment Boer War Memorial. Others, undated, show the Yorkshire Hussars in full ceremonial uniform, parading through the streets of York – and, in one case, the band of the Yorkshire Hussars.

The Hussars were a volunteer cavalry unit formed during the Napoleonic Wars. Various squadrons saw action in the First World War, including at Ypres, Loos, the Battle of Aubers Ridge and – as part of the 9th Battalion the West Yorkshire regiment, at Passchedaele.

All that horror was yet to come at the time these photographs were taken.

“So it’s good to preserve them for my family and grandchildren,” Mr Harland says.

“They will be able to look at them and think ‘ooh, what a life they must have had!’”

The last photograph shows the Yorkshire Yeomanry Brigade camp at Bulford on Salisbury Plain in 1912 – neat lines of tents stretching into the distance.

Sobering to think that in just a couple of short years, those neat tents would have been swapped for the squalor and carnage of the trenches.

York Press: The Yorkshire Yeomanry Brigade on manoeuvres Salisbury Plain The Yorkshire Yeomanry Brigade on manoeuvres Salisbury Plain York Press: Peter Harland Peter Harland

• We welcome contributions from readers to Yesterday Once More. However, we would ask you not to send in original old photographs, as we cannot guarantee that these will be returned.

If you have old photographs or documents you would like to share with us contact Stephen Lewis on 01904 567263 (email stephen.lewis@nqyne.co.uk).