A FIRST-HAND account of life in the trenches of the First World War, on which a ground-breaking new television series has been based, has gone on display at a York museum.

The excerpt from the official war diary of the 10th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment forms part of a display at the regimental museum of The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, in Tower Street, which is being run to coincide with the new BBC2 television series The Trench, which begins tomorrow.

The series sees 24 men attempting to relive the harrowing experiences of life in the trenches in in a purpose-built trench system near Cambrai in France.

Researchers for the series used the account of the daily lives of the 10th Battalion, part of the famous Hull Pals, to recreate a two-week period on the Western Front in October and November of 1916.

The 10th Battalion, known as "The Commercials" because it was recruited entirely from office workers, was one of four battalions of volunteers raised to serve as the Hull Pals. The East Yorkshire Regiment amalgamated with the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1958 to form the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire.

The museum's new display features photographs, letters home and items of uniform and equipment as well as a copy of the diary extract.

Curator Colonel Tim Vines said: "We thought that with the television series coming up we should display some of the items that might be of interest to people."

Updated: 09:00 Thursday, March 14, 2002