Tuesday 6th October 2009, Guards Museum, Birdcage Walk, London. Great museum, hugely enhanced by brilliant staff. A Curator who cooks? I like it. Front of house staff who tailor? I like it more and more. Here we have complete social history. It's the reason why I love military museums. The personalia. Individuals remembered in a multitude of ways. The medals, uniforms, photos, diaries, personal letters, souvenirs, skills and crafts, portraits and stories, all capable of being woven into, and sometimes conflicting the evidence of official reports and literature. It's the passion too. It's palpable in the displays and amongst the staff. The honour of serving sovereign and country, the male-bonding and the army families who complete the story. There's ethnography too, for example 19th century Afghan material and the superb craftsmanship of military chattels. All curated on a shoe string with minimal staff and volunteers. These are true community museums. Places where communities of those who risk all can remember and celebrate all that they value and believe in. In such museums we can understand history from a very personal perspective in a way that many other disciplines can only envy. Or am I wrong?