AGM, launch of Trumpington’s Fallen Heroes of World War I and talk Remembering the First World War at a Local Level, 23 October 2014
There were about 30 participants at this meeting which began with the 2014 AGM. Howard Slatter outlined the work and events of the last year. He referred to the impending refurbishment of the surroundings of the War Memorial. We had held two visits during the year, to the American Cemetery and the Papworth/Bell School archaeological sites. Work had continued on the development of this web site and responding to enquiries about the history of Trumpington. The mailing list now included over 100 recipients. Howard encouraged participants to join the Committee and Randall Evans offered to stand as a new member.
The Committee had established a working group to develop information about the men of Trumpington who served in World War I. Howard and four other volunteers were about to start the project and additional volunteers would be very welcome. The results of this work would be added to the Imperial War Museum Lives of the First World War database.
The Group was well placed to contribute to that database, following the publication of Trumpington’s Fallen Heroes of World War I, written by Ken Fletcher with the support of Sheila Glasswell. Howard introduced Sheila Glasswell who described the work she had done to edit the booklet. Sheila highlighted the front cover of the booklet based on one of the panels on the War Memorial showing a weary soldier making his way home and the stories of a few of the individuals such as the Wilson family. She encouraged members to contribute new information about the fallen, such as family stories. She thanked Ken Fletcher for all his hard work on the project.
The main speaker was Dr Dan Todman, who gave a talk titled Remembering the First World War at a Local Level (see separate page).
Dan Todman is a former resident of Bishop’s Road, and pupil at Fawcett School. He is now a senior lecturer in history at Queen Mary, University of London. His research focus is on the social, military and cultural history of Britain in both world wars, with a particular interest in the intersection between home and fighting fronts and the remembrance of conflict. He is the author of The Great War: Myth and Memory .
Dan was very well placed to shed light on the effects of the war on a community such as Trumpington and his talk and the discussion were very thought provoking.
See also the page with information about Trumpington and World War 1.