It was all smiles at Westbury Town Council recently with the news that the Great War Commemoration Group has secured £9,500 funding from The Heritage Lottery Boards ‘Then & Now’ fund.
Cllr David Jenkins, chair of the working group said, “This is just the news we have been waiting for. After months of hard work and planning we can finally deliver the next phase of our project.
“The Heritage Lottery funding will enable us to host a series of exhibitions here in Westbury, at The Laverton. We will also be visiting most of our local schools with a re-enactment of a WW1 recruitment event which actually happened in the Market Place in 1915, which will give our children and younger people a fun and different way to learn about some aspects of WW1.
“As well as our displays and recruitment event, there will be a public showing of Wiltshire Council’s Wall of Remembrance, which displays a small cross to signify the life of each Wiltshire Soldier lost in the Great War. This simple display really brings home the scale of loss during the Great War – it’s very humbling.”
From 6th to 17th July there will be a series of free displays and exhibitions at the Laverton including the Wiltshire at War Exhibition, the Wall of Remembrance and a Westbury related display by Wiltshire Soldiers, as well as an opportunity to research your family history with the Westbury Family History Society.
There will be a re-enactment of a recruiting event which will be held at The Laverton on Saturday 11th July. WW1 soldiers, the Mayor, Cllr David Bradshaw, and a drummer from the 1st Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment will collect potential recruits of all ages, both male and female, in the High Street and march them up to The Laverton where they will meet a recruiting sergeant, be put through their paces by a doctor, fitted for a uniform before finally allocated to a regiment. Potential nurses will learn basic first aid and how to bandage wounds.
Other exhibitions and projects are planned for later in the year with The Everyday Tommy art exhibition during the Westbury Music & Arts Festival and a digital recording project with Matravers School students.
For more information regarding opening times visit the Westbury Town Council website at www.westburytowncouncil. gov.uk or call Julie Dyer on 01373 822232.
