WESTBURY people are being asked to hunt out their family keepsakes to help mark the centenary of the start of World War One.
The town is planning to commemorate the anniversary with a series of events from specialist talks to exhibitions and commemorative services.
The war memorial in the All Saints churchyard which marks the local men killed in the Great War, is also set to be restored and the war memorial in Soisy Gardens will also be renovated.
A community working group has now been formed to coordinate the town’s commemoration and wants to hear from local people who can help organise events or loan artefacts to stage an exhibition of First World War memorabilia connected with the town.
Lt Col (Retired) Andrew Field MBE said, “We would love to hear from anyone who has some family heirlooms such as letters, medals, diaries, badges or other items linked to the Great War. It is really important the town commemorates this event and pays tribute to those who were killed in the conflict and we would like as many people to take part as possible.”
Andrew can be contacted at balian3@hotmail.co.uk or call 01373 858626.
The working group also hopes to co-ordinate and advertise other local events that have already been planned by individuals and those which might be suggested by anyone in the local community. So far these include a series of specialist talks at All Saints church; commemorative ceremonies and services; a concert of WWI footage, music and readings as part of the Westbury Music and Arts festival, exhibitions in the heritage centre and restoration of the town’s two war memorials.
Andrew is also compiling information about Westbury soldiers who served in the Great War and would like to hear from anyone who can help with information, who had relatives who served and whose stories they would like to share or would like investigated. He is also planning a talk at the Laverton to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war focussing on how the town was affected by the four years of fighting.
As many readers may already know, the 4th of August this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the British declaration of war at the beginning of World War One; ‘the war to end all wars.’ Regrettably, the war dragged on for over four years and cost Great Britain alone a sobering 886,000 dead and over one and a half million wounded, besides serving as the catalyst for unprecedented social change. The names of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele are familiar to many, even so long after these terrible battles were fought.
The war started after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Serbia on the 28th July 1914; the repercussions of which quickly spread across Europe. Britain, France and Russia were allied to prevent German aggression and were joined later by the United States and Japan. Germany’s allies were Austria-Hungary and Italy, completing a solid block of belligerents across Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Bulgaria and Turkey became German allies and the fighting spread across the whole of Europe and into the Middle East and Turkey itself.
Hauntingly, the war was initially enthusiastically supported by the British people and men flocked to the recruiting offices; many were even worried that the fighting would be over before they arrived at the front. This enthusiasm quickly turned into a dogged, but resigned determination as years passed, the horrors of the war became clear and casualties increased. Eventually, in 1916, conscription was introduced to ensure sufficient men were available to maintain the fight until over four million Britons were in uniform.
The war is especially remembered for the mud and slaughter on the western front and the long lines of trenches that ran from the English Channel to the borders of Switzerland; a war fought on a different scale from any which had preceded it. Eventually there was a total of 60 million combatants in Europe, of which eight million were killed.
The battle of the Somme is perhaps the best known of the many battles fought during the war. Launched on the 1st July 1915, the British lost an appalling 60,000 men in the first two days. Brought to an end in November, the battle cost the British and their French allies over 400,000 men; casualties on an unprecedented scale. After the failure of the German offensives in 1918, the British, French and American counter-attacks smashed the exhausted German armies and at 11.00am, on the 11th of November 1918, an armistice was signed that ended the war.
The poppies that grew across the muddy battlefields of France became the British symbol of this tragic war and of the need to remember those men and women who gave their lives. The sacrifices of all those who served demand that we mark the centenary of these memorable events.
A calendar of events is to be posted on the Westbury Town Council website: westburytowncouncil.gov.uk.
You can also find out more about activities going on across Wiltshire to mark this special centenary at: heritageinwiltshire.wordpress.com/category/world-war-i-centenary
For details of information and resources held at the Wiltshire History Centre visit: wshc.eu/world-war-1-resources.html
