Historians launch drive to research lives of war dead

HISTORIANS in Pill have launched a drive to research the lives of war heroes whose names appear on war memorials in the village.

Members of Crockerne Pill and District History Society have started carrying out research on the 80 names which appear on the memorials at Christ Church in Pill and at St George's Church in Easton-in Gordano.

All of those whose names appear on the memorials are connected to one of the villages and served in either World War One or Two.

The names of all the fallen servicemen and women are read out at the annual Armistice service held in the villages each year.

Once the research is complete, the society hope to produce a special booklet featuring the details of the war dead in time for the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One in August 1914.

A group of five members of the history society have been busy researching the names to find out the age of the person when they died, where and when they died and which regiment they were in.

They have also been researching the rank of the war heroes, their service number and where they are buried as well as their links to the two villages.

So far society members have managed to gather information on more than 70 of those which feature on the memorials, but there are still several with which they are struggling.

An appeal has gone out in the village newsletter asking people with any information about relatives which served in either of the world wars to get in touch with the society.

Society member, Ivor King, 84, is one of those helping research the project.

Mr King, who served as a craftsman in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, said: "As a village history society we are always looking for interesting projects to do in the village.

"As next year is the centenary of the start of World War One, we thought it would be a good project to do.

"We have managed to get a lot of information via the internet and from newspaper cuttings from the time but there are seven names we are struggling to get details on

"We are asking local families who may have lost members in the wars to get in contact with us with any information they may have.

"The plan is to produce a booklet in time for the centenary of the start of World War One and hope we will have plenty of interesting stories to share."

"Hopefully, as time goes on, we can investigate more and we will have more stories to tell."

 Anyone who can help with the research can call Maggi on 01275 373887, Ivor on 375871 or Garfield on 373553.