Events
World War One in the Vale Event
On 30, Sep 2014 | In Events | By Nicola Gauld
World War One in the Vale Event Will Show How Making Pershore Plum Jam Kept the Home Fires Burning During 1914-1918
Residents of the Vale of Evesham and Pershore are invited to World War One in the Vale Event at the Almonry Heritage Centre, Evesham, between 1pm and 7pm on 16 October 2014.
Community history groups, artists, local historians and University of Worcester students will be sharing their WWI stories about the Home Front experiences of those who lived in the Evesham Vale.
Did you know that Pershore had one of the first Women’s Institute branches in the country? Founded in November 1916, the women of Pershore and Evesham ran pig and rabbit clubs and bottled and preserved the Vale’s famous plums and damsons to keep the nation fed when naval blockades threatened to cut off imports and starve us out.
Visitors will also find out the sad story of the traumatised Evesham man, shot at dawn for apparent desertion on 8 February 1915. You will be able to read his heart-breaking last letter home which his wife had published in the Evesham Journal.
Exhibitors will include Badsey History Society who will show off some of the letters sent back and forth by the Sladden family to their three sons on the Western Front and in Egypt; and Girlguiding Worcestershire will share stories of how the county’s Girl Guides volunteered to keep things going.
Adrian Gregson, of Worcestershire WW100, will also be available to advise local historians and new researchers how to get the best out of the resources in Worcestershire Archives at the Hive.
Join us for WW1 eggless sponge cake and tea, hear performances of wartime music, and find out about: convalescence hospitals, Belgium refugees, fruit growing, German POWs, land girls, child labourers and the daily lives of local families in the Vale. Bring your memorabilia and show it off too!
Professor Maggie Andrews, from the University of Worcester and one of the Co-Investigators of Voices of War & Peace, will be speaking at the event.
“We hope to encourage a wide range of people to research the history of the Evesham Vale during WWI,” she said. “Many of us have some awareness of histories of soldiers in WWI, but there are other histories of the war to be told. The housewives, children, domestic servants, shopkeepers, farmers and smallholders all have stories which should be heard. Family memories, letters, diaries, photographs, memorabilia and local newspapers will all help to tell their histories.”
Visitors to the event will also receive exclusive updates about a follow-on events, activities, research and exhibitions and we hope take part in shaping these events
Grant development officers from Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund will be attending our WW1 in the Vale event. Throughout the afternoon, they will be available to answer questions and provide advice on how to prepare your own application for funding such as ACE Grants for the Arts or HLF’s First World War: Then & Now.
For more information, event updates, or to contact the WW1 in the Vale team, see http://ww1inthevale.wordpress.com/
This event is funded by AHRC WW1 Engagement Centre: Voices of War & Peace and Wychavon District Council
Event partners: University of Worcester, Worcestershire WW100, Arts Council, Heritage Lottery Fund
