AFTER another meeting at the Comrades Club in Nailsworth in April, the various members have been hard at work preparing their respective events to commemorate the outbreak of 'The Great War' in 1914.

The Remembering Rodborough group arranged a presentation in April of the Spaniel in The Works Theatre Company’s excellent play called 'Tommy Atkins and The Canary Girl', which has since been put on to great acclaim in Nailsworth as well.

And in May we had a fantastic exhibition at the Comrades Club, masterminded by Mike Harvey, which attracted a large number of visitors.

There were all sorts of fascinating exhibits and displays, stories about individual soldiers and their families and talks about various aspects of the war and its impact on local people.

Children from Avening, Horsley, Nailsworth and St. Dominic’s schools also worked very hard on their contributions, in the form of wonderful poems, paintings, poppies and child’s suitcases, all very imaginatively created.

A second very successful play, 'Talbot House, a Home from Home' by Peter Gill, was included as part of the Nailsworth events, plus a War and Peace Walk around the local war memorials and graveyards.

Events coming up in the next few months include the following:

Avening, Saturday, June 21 at the Memorial Hall - an evening of songs, poems, stories and memorabilia (phone Mandy on 01453 832318).

Avening, Friday, June 27 at the Memorial Hall - a talk by Peter Spowage on the history of WW1, plus an exhibition of art in the trenches.

Rodborough, Thursday, July 3 at Rodborough Tabernacle - a talk by Ray Wilson on “Stroud Industries and WW1” (phone Julie on 01453 752159).

Chalford, Saturday, August 2 at Christ Church, Chalford - exhibition.

Randwick, starting Saturday, August 2 at Randwick Church - exhibition.

King’s Stanley, Saturday, September 13 at St. George’s Church - church service.

Woodchester, Saturday, September 13 - Sunday, September 14 at St. Mary’s Church, North Woodchester – exhibition.

Minchinhampton, Saturday, October 18 - Sunday, October 19 at the Market House - exhibition.

Watch out for further events in the local press.

There will also be special displays over the coming four years at the Museum in The Park.

Another meeting of the group will be held in October.

If you are interested in joining us or want to find out more about researching your local war memorial, please phone Ros on 01453 834485.

In case you are not already aware, the Wayside Cross at Woodchester, below the Priory Church, was probably the first community war memorial in the whole country to be dedicated - on June 3, 1917 – so that is another very special feature of our Five Valleys.