Organisers Delighted With Attendance At Stoughton Great War Event

Published on: 24 Sep, 2014
Updated on: 26 Sep, 2014

The organisers of the Stoughton in the Great War event, held on the green at Cardwells Keep and the service of remembrance at Stoke Cemetery on Sunday, September 21, say they are delighted with the sheer numbers who attended, now estimated at being near to 600.

They have received a number of compliments and once again thank all those who took part and everyone who came.

Picture: Sheila Atkinson.

John Knight of Manor Road Evangelical Church, emailed co-organiser Sheila Willis and wrote: “Just a quick ‘thank you’ to you and the team for the brilliant event you organised yesterday for the Stoughton community.

“You must have been thrilled with the response, which I don’t think could have been better. I hope that you felt that your careful planning and all the hard work that went into the event was well rewarded with the incredible response from the community. I thought it was terrific that so many people showed interest and attended. Very well done to you and everyone else involved.

“Thank you for everything it was a brilliant afternoon in every way.”

Picture by Richard Cleland.

Rachel Sarno, who put on a moving dance display, wrote: “I just wanted to say congratulations for a hugely successful event yesterday, it looked fantastic and all I heard was praise all day. Thank you very much for inviting us to be part of the event.”

Stoughton resident Caroline Golding emailed co-organiser David Rose, saying: “Thank you for all the hard work you must have put in to organising the day. I loved looking at all the old photographs!”

Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

Sheila Atkinson from Park Barn, said: “Well done, the event went very smoothly. Lovely to see so many people take part in the march.”

Michelle Anthinoitis emailed David from Australia after reading the previous report on the Dragon, saying: “What a great gathering yesterday! I’m glad the weather was good. I was thinking of you. Lots of sights and sounds for the re-enactment. What a challenge to teach those students all the old songs.

“I’m certain the spirits at the cemetery were rising up and joining in. It must be very satisfying to see all your hard work and organisational skills come together and know that the community were very supportive. Well done! Special thanks to Bryony [Rose] for laying the wreath on my behalf.”

Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

Cardwells Keep resident Julia Williams’ email to co-organiser Sheila Willis read: “Just wanted to say a big thank you to you, Pauline and David for organising yesterday, it was a lovely day, and good to see so many people there, it’s much quieter out there this morning!

“It’s great to see there is community spirit still about, and the green is such an ideal space for such events.”

Reporting for The Guildford Dragon NEWS was Anna Valentina, who spoke to some of those exhibiting. She writes:

Jeremy Croucher presented a tiny part of his huge multifarious collection: Picture by Anna Valentina.

There were lots of collectors proudly exhibiting their treasures, in full or just tiny parts of them. One of those was Jeremy Croucher, who brought along a variety of small items, such as playing cards, biscuit boxes and cigarette cases.

On his stand were many cap badges of different regiments from all parts of the British Empire. They were all very different – some of them leaf-shaped, others looked like an elephant or a tank.

His collection of postcards was fantastic too, some of them with elegant stitched embroidery, still bright and accurate. Other were painted – congratulatory or funny, to cheer up the growing gloom of the Great War. You could easily see how the hardships have darkened the colours and strengthened the slogans of wartime recruiting posters, which are Jeremy’s own favourite part of his collection.

An impressive collection of military uniforms and weapons was exhibited. Picture by Anna Valentina.

Another was exhibiting military uniforms and weapons. He has been diligently collecting for more than 30 years, and his collection includes many objects, all in a perfect condition. He was absolutely happy to demonstrate a glittering cavalry sword and to tell the history of weapons to the public.

It was very hard not to notice three very impressive men in the wartime uniform, wearing marvellous moustaches and holding rifles.

Everyone wanted to take a picture with Ian Chatfield in wartime uniform. Picture by Anna Valentina.

Julian Martin, Arthur Danipace and Ian Chatfield represented the Surrey Infantry Museum at Clandon Park (formerly the Queen’s Royal Regiment Museum), and they were telling to the public, especially to youngsters, how important is to know the history.

The Great War was not an ordinary conflict; it caused damage to the whole country, with every family affected. And what could provoke more curiosity than the history of one’s own family?

The museum helps local people research their family history and to find out about their ancestors who took part in hostilities.

Ian, who is the curator of the museum at Clandon, said their work is now in great demand. The centenary of the start of the First World War has made it even more popular and during the last year they have helped about 12,000 people with their requests.

The event was enjoyable not only for adults but for children as well. The two marquees where they could dress up in wartime clothes and play old-time games were crowded all day long.

Margaret and Anna organised children activities. Picture by Anna Valentina.

Margaret Jackson, who organised children’s activities on behalf of Heritage Open Days, said that everything in these tents were just replicas, but that did not make any difference. Everyone was happy to play, or to paint flags of Britain’s allies.

Floral displays by Helen Rose (left) and David Holt of St Francis’ Church. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

David Rose adds: “We had a number of photographers capturing all aspects of the event, many of their pictures are seen here and on the previous Dragon report. I thank them for the time they spent. Their names appear on the captions.

“We needed funds upfront to stage the event and first applied to the National Lottery as part of its First World War commemorative funding project. We were turned down as it did not consider there was enough in the bid for educational purposes and that the project had ‘started’ before we submitted our bid. Well, we could not have staged it without first appealing to people to take part and to find out whether the community would support it and come along! And I know there were plenty of things that went a long way way educate people of all ages.

“However, we then turned to Surrey County Council’s member’s application fund and submitted a bid on behalf of our co-organiser and county councillor Pauline Searle, which, to our relief was successful to the tune of £2,125. Thank you.

“Costs included the hire of portable loos, public liability insurance, the hire of marquees, tables and chairs from Ripley and Stoughton Scouts, promotional flyers, craft materials, and other sundry items. Guildford Borough Council charged us a reduced rate of £50 for the hire of the green at Cardwells Keep and Pauline Searle arranged for the council’s parks department to mow the grass ahead of the event. Other promotional leaflets and printing of material for my history displays I did at the Castle Street office of Voluntary Action South West Surrey (who manage me in my role of co-ordinator of the Joining In! project in the Westborough ward). For that, they have waived their normal fees for staff printing for personal use. Again, thank you.

“At the time of writing, we are going through our accounts, but hope that we are not out of pocket. Before the event we decided that if we did not use all the funds allocated, that money would be kept in our bank account (Stoughton in the Great War Project) and will be available to help fund other local projects that may require funding as we see fit.

“And where do we go from here? The event has raised a good deal of interest in this area during the First World War. We will continue to tell anyone interested all we know and have learned. We will make photos taken on the day and local history information freely available to anyone interested. Local schools, churches and organisations may like this. We have plans to provide it on CD-roms or by other digital forms.

“If interested email me at davidrosemedia@gmail.com or call me on 01483 838960.”

Below is a gallery of photos capturing a truly memorable day.