HE'S got Newport on a plate.

And a cup, and a china golf ball, a coal truck and a model of a First World War Ambulance. Even a hand grenade.

In fact if it's got Newport's crest on it, there a good chance Ray O'Brien (pictured) has it in his collection.

"I'm a sucker for anything that's a china souvenir of Newport," says Ray, whose home in Cae Perllan Road could put a museum to shame.

"If it's got Newport's crest on I'll buy it. I've always been fascinated by the city's history whether it's portrayed on pottery or postcards.

"It's more personal than just seeing something and wanting it. Each of these things have their stories to tell.

"As I hold them I can imagine someone before the Great War buying a little memento to bring home for someone they love."

As a boy in Pill before the war Ray used to collect foreign coins, marvelling at the exotic names and dreaming of faraway markets and bazaars.

In those days the Scouting movement took up alot of his energies.

"There were four Scout troops in Pill during the war when I was a kid and two Boys' Brigade companies.

"We were always off all over the place and to be honest I forgot about collecting for a while.

"I did an engineering drawing apprenticeship at Whitehead's before being called up into the Army."

Initially drafted into the South Wales Borderers, Ray was transferred to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers with whom he spent a year 'flogging about in the Malayan jungle'.

"After demob I went back to Whitehead's and once again became deeply involved in the Scouting movement.

"A friend of mine was running the Scouts in Rogerstone and I went over there and remained Scout Leader for 40 years.

"I still take an active part in running the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

"The number of youngsters who've passed through the scheme in the last five years is one of the success stories in this town, which I think should get a bit more attention, but back to the collecting.

"Early on I was interested in military medals of which I have examples going back to the Crimean War in the middle of the 19th century.

"Even more than coins, I always felt there was something personal about the medals.

"It was while going around looking for medals and for Royal commemorative cups and plates, which is another interest of mine, that I first started to think about the little china knick-knacks."

A glass-fronted sideboard as you enter Ray's home is a visual refrain to the tastes of an age which came to an end soon after the Great War of 1914-1918.

Invariably white, and proudly emblazoned with the red chevron on a yellow background, the little figures seem to exude a Newport that has long gone, one of Edwardian dresses and tram cars and paddle steamer outings; a long summer of peace in Europe which had lasted since the end of the Napoleonic Wars but which was soon to be shattered at Ypres and on the Somme.

"I'd see these things while I was hunting for coins and medals but to be honest, in the 1960s they were ten-a-penny and nobody seemed to care about them very much.

"People would buy them as a souvenir, usually of the seaside, although I can't imagine we were anyone's favourite watering-hole. They were produced out of civic pride, often mass-produced in Germany.

"I must have about 200 of them, plus miniature teapots, mugs and plates, which show Newport scenes.

"The Transporter Bridge was the favourite depiction but the castle and Belle Vue Park were also popular."

Discipline is at the heart of the collector's art, Ray says, before laughingly admitting that he isn't all that good at it.

"I have to admit that I'm an addict for anything connected with Newport. "I got a lot of expensive stuff but I like the cheap things as well.

"Do I throw out the ones I get bored with? Of course I don't! They've all got their place.

"There wouldn't be any point in getting them in the first place if I intended to let them go."