Over the last few months a little committee has met in our village pub the Rising Sun. In between downing pints of ale we discussed an upcoming event: a history evening and exhibition which is scheduled for Saturday 8th November at 7 pm.
You will be able to learn about the young men from Gilston and High Wych who went to war but did not come back. You will be able to look WW1 project work from HW school. And if all goes well you will be able to eat WW1 type food and drink WW1 beer. And whilst we are honouring the fallen, the re is no reason to be glum : We will have a 14-18 singalong.
Entry will be £ 5 per person but those under 18 years of each will be let in free of charge.
We look forward to seeing you.
Theo
PS: In case you are wondering: the two pictures above are of local lads. David Crombie Rodgers, on the left, was a clerk and died in France on 5th October 1916. Jack Smith, the son of the local blacksmith luckily survived the war.
Some of you may have read my article regarding the Holden brothers: Ernest John aka Johnny and his brother Joe. Johnny died at the Somme whilst Joe survived the war but ended up with added damage to his already impaired hearing.
Another recent article dealt with the Nottage sisters: Bessie, Martha and Frances Emily aka Frankie who all joined the VAD, the Voluntary Aid Detachments.
Well, Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts, or at least they corresponded frequently. Frankie’s photograph was amongst the effects sent back to his family after he perished on 1st July 1914 one of the bloodiest day of that conflict strangely known as the “Great War”
I have decided not yet to publish my WW1 related articles on line. They are however available as PDFs for those who are interested. Just ask, you can now do so once again through the comment function on this website.
Thanks to two of my correspondents, the mystery surrounding Hugh Lipscomb and Percy Morris, two High Wych men who perished in the Great War, has now been solved. That leaves Henry Camp and , Walter Richard Webb. Of the first one I know nothing apart from the mention on the plaque in St. James’s. Walter Richard Webb meanwhile most probably lived with his parents in Redricks Lane at the time of the 1911 census.
I also still wonder about Joseph Cakebread. I am told he lived with his grandparents in who manned the Sawbridgeworth post office early in the 20th century, but I have been unable to verify that story.
