Nearly 100 years ago, on 11th November 1918, the guns of the First World War fell silent for the first time in four years.
On 11th November 2018, the anniversary of the end of ‘The Great War’ will be marked across Great Britain. Clarborough and Welham Parish Council has taken the decision to take part in these national events as well as organising some more local events to commemorate parish people who took part in ‘The Great War’.
Conveniently, the 11th November 2018 actually falls on a Sunday and so the annual Remembrance Day Service held in St John the Baptist Church, Church Lane, Clarborough will on that morning at 11.00am. A fitting tribute to those who served and those who died in the ‘war to end all wars’.
Also conveniently, November is the start of the tree planting season. The afternoon will see a number of Memorial Oak Trees planted on the new Parish Pasture by residents of the parish. Two of these of these Oaks have been given by the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire with others donated by Sherwood Forest Country Park in Edwinstowe. The tree planting will be followed by refreshments in the Village Hall and a display of photographs and biographies of those men of the Parish who died in World War I.
The main nationally organised event will be the lighting of Beacons, across the length and breadth of Great Britain. The Clarborough Beacon will be one of the several thousand involved.
The small group of Parish Councillors organising these events need help from residents in carrying out this programme. The areas where input is needed are: organising, ideas and information — the parish council has been given the list of names, shown below, of men from the parish who were soldiers who died in the First World War. Have you heard of them? Do you know anything about them? Are they relatives of yours? Do you know relatives of these men? Do you have any letters, photographs, medals, artifacts etc, of these men which you would be prepared to loan for a display?
Do you know of other men from the Parish who served or died in that war? Do you know of any sailors or Royal Flying Corps members from Clarborough who served or died in the war?
List of soldiers from the parish known to have died in World War I: BRIGGS John William, BROOKS Harry, BROWNLOW Arthur, HOWGATE Arthur Edwin, KIRTON Charles Henry, MARKHAM William Hiley, MARSH T H, PATTISON Walter, PEATFIELD William, SMITH Albert, SMITH Harry, STEVENSON John William, STOCKS Charles, WHITLAM George.
List of soldiers who were missing from the electoral roll after the First World War about whom there is no definite information: BENNETT Algernon, BLAND Charles Henry, BLAND George, BROWN Herbert Horace, COBB John George, COBB Wilfrid, DONCASTER Thomas, DURHAM Leonard, GREEN Charles, HATCH John, JEFFCOCK Philip Eric, JEFFCOCK Win. Henry Claude, PARKIN Evan George, SANDERSON Albert Thomas, STEVENSON Tom, SWINDIN George, SWINDIN Tom, THORP Leonard, THORP Roger, THORP Roland John, THORP W H, WARD Alfred, WILKINSON Ernest, WILKINSON Percy, WORTHINGTON John William Rogers.
If you recognise any of the names in the two lists above and/or you would like to help organise the events set out above then please contact Steve Bowler — event100years@outlook.com, or call 01777 711119.