PARWICH.ORG

Parwich commemorated the centenary of the start of World War I, perhaps the darkest four years of the twentieth century, with an exhibition, a talk and a moving service at the War Memorial.

Some 80 Parwich men served in the Arm Forces during WWI, the Exhibition included details and photographs of some of those that the History Society and Parwich Legion have managed to identify from local knowledge and newspapers of the time. More need to identified, so if you know of anyone who served, have any stories or have photographs do get in touch.

Denis Laycock gave a fascinating and vivid talk in two parts. The first part outlined the war experiences of a number of the Parwich Service Men, include readings from the letters informing family of how their loved ones died. And the second outlined the course of the War as it would have been experienced here in the village. Denis pulled together a range of sources to start to build up a very real insight into life here from 1914 (the early volunteers, the Home Guard, conscription, how to keep the farm work going, fundraising events, normal life and much more) to 1919, as the village celebrated end of the War, the returning soldiers and some of the irrevocable changes that had occurred. He also raised a number of questions, including what was the role of local women in war work, at home and abroad, how did the local farms deal with the shortage of work horses and young men?

Then there was a torch lit procession to the War Memorial, where Rev. Ian Aldersley led a simple but compelling service, that included reading out the names of the men who died: Pte Arthur Calladine, Pte Thomas Hadfield, Sgt Fred Moorcroft, Pte Albert Roberts, Pte Robert Shipley, Pte Herbert Steeples, Pte Leonard Twigge and Pte Thomas Twigge. The evening ended by extinguishing the candles at 11pm, happening at the same time across the country, symbolising the coming four years of darkness starting on this day a hundred years ago.

Photos by John F-S and Peter T