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Spotlight on local history – remembering the Great War
Monday 3 November 2008
A new local history book is published this month just in time for the first anniversary of a new war memorial and the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.
"Keep the home fires burning" centres on the Sherburn District during and after the Great War. The book takes the form of a monthly diary of events, both at home and overseas, and concerns five East Durham villages - Sherburn Village, Sherburn Hill, Pittington, Littletown and Shadforth. The 200 pages contain many monochrome, sepia and colour photographs, some of which have never been seen before.
The book is part of a local heritage project, which began with the new war memorial in Sherburn Village, and will be launched on Sunday 9 November at Sherburn Village Community Centre, following the Armistice Day Service. There will be 60 special limited edition books available and a display of photographs.
The book has been a labour of love for the authors, local men, Kevin Stock and John Burrell, who are members of Sherburn Hill History Club. They were inspired by initial research they carried out into soldiers named on Sherburn's war memorial when they were planning the memorial's renewal. "We intended just to write a short pamphlet, but once we started to dig, we found a story that just grew in both tragedy and social history. The area suffered greatly during the War and also in the years following the Armistice. So rather than just give the background of the soldier's deaths, we decided to recreate their lives and the lives of those around them," said Kevin.
Both are delighted that their work is being published. "We hope that people who have links to the area will find the photographs and memories in the book both fascinating and poignant."
The book, which costs £25.00 (plus postage and packing), is available direct from the publishers, www.woodfieldpublishing.co.uk or telephone 01243 821234 or contact the authors on 0191 372 3849 or 0191 372 2845.
The authors will soon start work on a history of the villages in World War II which will take a similar format and will form the final part of the project.