On Saturday 10th November Exminster Victory Hall is holding an open day to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War.
A free cream tea is being offered and there'll be an exhibition commemorating the lives of 39 men - and now one woman - whose names are on the Roll of Honour.
Sally Parfitt writes:
Last year when I was researching the 39 men named on Exminster War Memorial I found that there was an individual missing. Violet Irene Nellie Crago.
Known as Irene, she was born in Fremington, North Devon, in 1902, the youngest of three children of...
Shrouds of the Somme returns to Exeter’s Northernhay Gardens on Saturday (30 June), two years after its original installation moved thousands of visitors.
The 2018 exhibition, which runs until Sunday 8 July, takes the form of a ‘Trench’. It marks 100 years since the end of the First World War and will see 72,396 shrouded figures stacked – one on top of another – in a free-standing wooden representation of a trench, alongside which visitors will be able to walk and view the names of all those killed in Britain’s bloodiest battle, who have no known grave.
A number of striking Silhouettes have appeared around Exeter to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Exeter City Council is backing The Royal British Legion initiative and has displayed the Silhouettes outside the Guildhall and the Civic Centre, as well as on the Paris Street roundabout coming into the city centre.
The Royal British Legion is leading a national movement to say ‘Thank You’ to the First World War generation. As part of this year’s centenary activities the Legion has launched a range of Silhouettes to encourage businesses, community groups and...
'The War Nurses' is the debut novel by Lizzie Page, released by Bookouture in April 2018.
'The War Nurses' is based on the incredible Elsie Knocker from Exeter and her friend, Mairi Chisholm from Cheddington. When the First World war broke out, Elsie and Mairi volunteered for an ambulance corp. Concerned that they needed to get closer to the action, the moved to a cellar house in Pervyse just yards from the Western Front. They were there for three and a half years and saved hundreds of lives and were ultimately honoured by the Belgian Govt. They had to support themselves which...
The First World War hospital past of one of Exeter’s landmark buildings and the contribution of doctors and nurses who worked there will be commemorated.
Reed Hall, then called Streatham Hall, housed injured soldiers between 1917 and 1919. It was one of the city’s seven temporary wartime treatment centres for troops.
Experts have uncovered incredible first-hand accounts from those accommodated in the hospitals, as well as medical staff who worked there. Now a heritage plaque will be installed on Reed Hall to mark this history.
World renowned violinist, Sophie Rosa, will perform at Exeter Cathedral together with The Exeter Symphony Orchestra and Exeter Philharmonic Choir to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Titled Semper Fidelis, the June concert will commemorate the courage and sacrifice of those who gave their lives, including the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who fought one of the fiercest battles of the First World War.
The event, which takes place on Saturday 16 June at Exeter Cathedral, is being organised by ABF The Soldiers’ Charity with the kind co-...
A photographic exhibition which gives an insight into Devon’s war hospitals during the First World War (1914–18) has opened at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
‘Devon Caring in War’ includes a series of images showing how the county’s war-wounded were cared for on their return home, including by the use of some pioneering therapy techniques.
The exhibition is part of the Devon Remembers Heritage Project which is run by the South West Heritage Trust with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project aims to give local people an opportunity to explore the county's...
The personal diary of Sergeant James Littler is being published online 100 years after he survived the fierce fighting at the Battle of the Somme on the National Army Museum’s commemorative website First World War in Focus.
Littler arrived on the Somme on 29 July 1916. Allied attacks had been launched on 1 July and continued into mid-November, but with German counter attacks the offensive eventually included 12 separate battles. These battles often went on for weeks at a time and Littler recorded how the men awaited their fate in a ‘hell-hole’.
Devon war memorials are among hundreds to be listed over the last year through Historic England’s pledge to protect 2,500 memorials by 2018, marking the centenary of the First World War.
Sidmouth War Memorial, Church Lane, Sidmouth http://bit.ly/1nYOu8u
War Memorial in the Churchyard of the Church of St John the Evangelist, Bovey Tracey http://bit.ly/202EPtl
Newton Abbot War Memorial, Queen Street, Newton Abbot http://bit.ly/1nYQ6iC
Meavy War Memorial, West Devon http://bit.ly/1nYQD3Z
The First World War was a time of momentous change for individual people, families and society, when thrift and economy in dress became increasingly important on the home front.
Woollen serge and silk taffeta in dark or neutral colours were frequently worn as the availability of fabrics and dyestuffs was restricted. Practical, hard-wearing suits or ‘costumes’, and washable shirt-waister blouses became a kind of everyday uniform for women in Britain during the war.
This display is part of RAMM’s four-year programme of exhibitions, displays, events and activities that focuses...
