Tag Archives: Great War

1919 Victory ! Wokingham celebrates.

Local Historian, Jim Bell unearths this extensive coverage of Wokingham’s Armistice Celebrations: “On Saturday, Wokingham duly celebrated the peace. The proceedings commenced at 7 a.m., when peals were rung on the church bells. At 10 a.m. the town band commenced to … Continue reading

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Hills Nicholson family: Four sons lost in two World Wars

The Nicholson family have no Wokingham street or building named after them and have sunk below the consciousness of today’s local community. In the 1800’s however, they lived in what is now the Cantley House Hotel and they invested in … Continue reading

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What was in the Wokingham news during the Great War ?

These articles are all taken from one of the area’s principal newspapers, “The Reading Mercury (also including Oxford Gazette, Newbury Herald and Berks. County paper)”   Each week the towns and villages surrounding Reading had sections in this paper devoted to … Continue reading

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Chemical warfare starts October 1914.

Chemical warfare enters in October 1914. Sneezing powder. The Germans used 3,000 shells containing the Niespulver, mixed with shrapnel and sent over to the British and Indian troops at Neuve Chapelle. Although not highly effective (the British were not even … Continue reading

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Winnie the Pooh and The Great War

Written by Mike. I’m not sure why we did it, but in 2003 my wife and I drove across Canada with our four year old son. It was a strange journey which included a 1000 miles of prairie land, bears racing … Continue reading

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Bearwood Roll of Honour, St Catherine's Church.

Every now again we come across seemingly small pieces of information, which suddenly provides insights into the changing attitude to the war. At first it was about glory, fighting for one’s country, beating the Bosch and still be back in … Continue reading

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BBC's 'Birdsong' and the story of the miners in The Great War

Birdsong has completed its two episodes on the BBC. Author, Sebastian Faulkes tells us of a story about a soldier who has been affected by the experience of war; from the battles of the Somme to Messines Ridge and Amiens. … Continue reading

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The story of The Christmas Day Truce 1914

Many thanks to Wiki for this study of the amazing tale of the human family’s desire to express friendship during the first Christmas of the First World War: The 1914 Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that … Continue reading

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A family reunites for Alfred Hurdwell.

Although we are still adding the names of the Wokingham Fallen to our website, we have already witnessed our first reunion of two members of the Hurdwell family who were introduced to each other via Wokingham Remembers. Heather White had … Continue reading

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