Articles about relatives who lived at the time of the First World War

Articles by Badsey residents and Badsey Society members about a relative who lived at the time of the First World War. 19 articles were received in response to a piece which appeared in Community News:

"August 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. Whatever your views on the war, without doubt, it was a pivotal point, not just in Badsey’s history, but the whole nation’s. The war reached out and touched almost everyone’s life in some way or other. Life changed forever; nothing was ever the same again. Men enlisted, or were called up, being sent to fight in places that many had never heard of. The families left behind had to carry on with their lives as best they could.

"A hundred years ago, the majority of the men who went off to war from Badsey were from the village or nearby. Today, Badsey is a melting-pot, with residents whose forebears have come from all over the country and, indeed the world. We all have very different stories to tell of our family history and would love to hear about one of your ancestors at the time of the Great War, wherever he/she lived. It does not need to be the story of someone who went off to battle. Just as interesting would be tales of people on the home front, those in the medical profession or those who did not fight, for whatever reason."

Articles were not to exceed 1000 words and photographs could be used as illustrations. The articles were included in the Festival of Churches exhibition in September 2014 and on display at the Remembrance Day Service. The Editor of "Community News", John Cole, selected one of the articles (that submitted by Sarah Bent), to be included in the November issue of "Community News".