SUMMER 2013

You can download a pdf version of our latest newsletter here.

Items from our Spring 2013 newsletter are duplicated here but note that all Remembrance items are available on our Remembrance page.

Date of next Committee Meeting Wednesday 29th Novembern 2013 at the Parish Room Sidbury.

The Arctic Star and Bomber Command Clasp application forms available on line or from the Secretary.    

Ron Bishop aged 22 at Fuka Camp, Egypt, in 1942.

The other side of a Branch Officer that Members might not know (Branch Treasurer until 2003). Ron was part of the BEF in France, September 1939. He was evacuated from Dunkirk by the HMS Vivacious when he was hit by a piece of Shrapnel (one inch wide by half inch depth) from a bomb explosion, embedding in his right temple; spending 3 months in the McIndoe Plastic Surgery Unit.  Ron then re-joined his Unit and was posted to Egypt, Sicily and Italy and finally home in July 1945.

Ron's Service of Thanksgiving took place at St Giles’ Church Sidbury on 5April 2013.

Diary Dates

The Royal British Legion Sidbury and Sidford Branch Coffee Morning at  Sidbury,  Saturday 3 August 2013.  Contact Secretary 512261

This was a great success making a profit of £550 for TRBL

Visit to the National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire
Friday 27 to Sunday 29 September 2013 (All welcomed)

Cost:
Seward's Coach, two nights accommodation, Bed and Breakfast and Dinner, the Cathedral Lodge, Lichfield.

Double Bed or twin bedded room sharing  - £130.00 per person. 
Single occupancy  -  extra cost

Free entrance to the National Memorial Aboretum.  Also free entry to the Warwick Regiment Museum (Friday) and Cosford Air Museum (Sunday.)

Coach pick up and drop off points can be arranged en route eg Axminster, Honiton, Sidbury, Sidford, Sidmouth, Newton Poppleford, towards Exeter.

Please contact  Kenneth Brake (01297 32149) by mid May – for more details, times and discuss any change in itinerary.  Interest already received.

Deposit of £40 required – cheques payable to Shawn Osment and send to Secretary. 

REMEMBRANCE 2013 - click here for Remembrance events

PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH THE SECRETARY WITH YOUR SUPPORT AND ANY MORE DETAILS REQUIRED.  01395  512261

Devon First World War Roll of Honour project

In 1920 Devon County Council, along with many other counties, organized a county-wide Roll of Honour for those local men and women who died whilst serving their country during the Great War. This was collected into a volume which was presented by the Prince of Wales to the Bishop of Exeter at the unveiling of the county's War Memorial at Cathedral Yard, Exeter, in 1921. The book listed 11,796 men and women.

The names are organised by parish and by alphabetical order within each parish. Cities like Exeter and Plymouth are listed separately. Because of this arrangement, unless you are certain which parish a person was listed as coming from, you would have to plough through the whole book to find an individual.

To commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014, the Friends of Devon's Archives intend to transcribe all the names contained in this important volume and present it as a searchable database through their website. This will make searching much easier and also preserve this historic book from too much use which could damage it.

It is also intended that the names from local war memorials be available through this database as a comparison. The first step, however, will be to have the names transcribed from the Roll exactly as written. So the Friends are seeking help from all those with an interest in Devon family history. If you are willing to help, go to the Friends' website www.foda.org.uk, click on "Projects" and then on "Devon World War One Roll of Honour Project". You can then contact the Friends by email via the link on the page and ask for details of the parish or parishes you want to help with.

Pete Best of the Friends will then email you images of the relevant page or pages of the Roll and ask you to transcribe the entries. He will explain how this should be done. Most rural parishes only have a few entries. I have transcribed my home parish, Bickleigh, near Plymouth, which had three entries, and the neighbouring parish of Meavy which had five. Some larger parishes could have substantially more and the Cities have many pages. It will need more than one person to work on the pages for Plymouth in particular.

The next stage will involve volunteers going to the local war memorial or memorials, wherever they are, and copying out the details entered on them. I was surprised to see that there were people in the roll for Bickleigh and Meavy who were not on the war memorials and vice versa. I also found that, in St Peters, Meavy, are individual monuments to individuals and another war memorial including other people. I have transcribed those too and added them to the database so that they can also be viewed when it is available online. The Friends are not expecting everyone to take that on too; once the Roll is transcribed others living or visiting locally may wish to do so.

In some cases, I know, war memorials have already been transcribed and even books written on the sacrifices from individual parishes. If you know of any from your parish or parishes of interest please let FODA know in case it has escaped their notice. Better too many notifications than too few. Where the war memorial transcription and research into individuals has already been done, it will be necessary to agree with whoever has done the work before FODA is able to put them online so, if you are, or know, the person who has done the work, please let us know.

Where possible, and with the help and agreement of those who hold the information, it is also hoped to "flesh out" the names transcribed using any memories, photographs, stories etc which can be obtained. So if you have family members who died in the War, you can contribute to the database and ensure that their sacrifice will be remembered online.

The Friends hope that the database we produce will be available to be searched freely for Many years; at least so long as the Internet survives!

Please contact Peter J Towey (702) 20 Skylark Rise, Plymouth, PL6 7SN Email: ptowey@sky.com19 to record your interest and include your name, phone number and/or email address.

JULY 2012

Items from our latest newsletter are duplicated here but note that all Remembrance items are available on our Remembrance page.

You can download a pdf version of the newsletter here.

THE  EDEN PROJECT  A great day out took place on our visit to the Eden Project, bringing to our attention the impact of climate change on the environment, plants and way of life experienced in many parts of the World.  An open air area of our sustaniable British plants, wildflowers and vegetables was also much admired.

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 October 15/16th 2012

A great 2 days took place in London with a group of Branch Members and Supporters.  The itinerary included the education of the War Museum, the brilliant production of War Horse; an excellent tour of the Houses of Parliament organised by our MP.  Also options included a visit to the Churchill War Rooms, the new Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park and some made time for the Millennium Wheel and Museums.

Mr Peter Mumford standing in front of the guns of the Battlship HMS Ramellies

 Mr Peter Mumford a Sidbury Member pictured re-united with a gun from the Battleship Ramillies on which he served in 1943.

New Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park

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 Our Group outside the Imperial War Museum,

 The Poppy Appeal Coffee Morning at Sidford raised over £500.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

The Remembrance lunch at Sidbury Village Hall was attended by 54.

Thanks for the support.

Johnson Cleaners - The Royal British Legion members can claim a 15% voucher just show your membership card.

Request to 'Ring the Bell'. Any bell including Church and Cathedral Bells throughout the Country to herald the commencement of the Olympic Games Festival. Many injured personnel from recent conflicts taking part with help from The Royal British Legion. Date and time 27 July at 8.12am. Canon Gurney has told me the bells will be rung at Sidbury St Giles' Church.