Update; Extra Meeting

Following the cancellation of last month's meeting, we are in the process of re-engaging Jeremy Banning at an extra event later in the year.  All meetings for the rest of 2013 have speakers booked, so the idea is to arrange a meeting at an alternative venue, possibly on a Saturday, to promote the WFA in general, and the branch in particular.  We may also book a second speaker and we are looking to invite other like-minded local organisations to join us on the day (History Societies, for example).  Details will be published in due course.

**STOP PRESS** Meeting Cancelled!!

Due to the forecasts of adverse weather in our region, we have decided to cancel the meeting planned for Friday 18th January, 2013.  This decision was taken after discussions between committee members and with the scheduled speaker.  Please accept our apologies for any disappointment this may cause, but the welfare of travelling members was our main concern.  We will endeavour to re-book Jeremy Banning later in the year and will post subsequent information on this site and elsewhere.

Branch Meeting 18th January 2013

This month's speaker is Jeremy Banning BE (Hons), MA.  Jeremy is an author and military historian specialising in the 1917 Battle of Arras and underground tunnelling warfare in the Great War.  He appeared in the last series of the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are' and also advised on the Time Team's 2010 Channel 4 special, 'The Somme's Secret Weapon', which followed the search for a Livens Flame Projector buried on the battlefield.  His talk is entitled;

"The Battle of Arras: April-May, 1917"

This presentation describes the British attack of 1917, investigates the costly French attacks of two years earlier and looks at the political, strategic and logistical situation facing the Allies in Spring 1917. 

Branch Meeting 16th November 2012

Our speaker this month is freelance writer and lecturer, Linda Hart.  Originally from New York, Linda now lives in Malvern, Worcestershire.  Her talk is entitled;

"The Dymock Poets 1911-1915"

In 1993 Linda founded the 'Friends of the Dymock Poets' society, which celebrates six literary figures who lived in, or visited, the area around Dymock in Gloucestershire just prior to the Great War.  She will concentrate on their time in Gloucestershire and the effects of war on their lives and work, especially the war poems of Rupert Brooke, Wilfrid Gibson and Edward Thomas.

Branch Meeting 19th October 2012

Tonight's talk doesn't concentrate on great offensives, mass troop movements or any other overview of the Great War.  The subject is the memoirs of one soldier and has been researched, and will be presented, by Richard Paczko of the WFA's Wolverhampton branch.  The talk is entitled;

"Shall I Ever Dance Again?"

The soldier concerned is Richard's great-uncle, who kept a diary of his Great War service.  The diary describes the day-to-day life in the trenches, together with eye-witness accounts of battle and the horrendous sights which ensued.  There is also humour, a bit of a mystery and, Richard says, something of interest to football fans!  

Branch Meeting 21st September 2012

Tonight's speaker is Paul Handford MBE who's talk is entitled;

"Women Ambulance Drivers in World War One"

Paul is a retired police officer and a member of Birmingham Medal Society.  In a follow up talk to his well-received March presentation, about volunteer Red Cross and St. John's ambulance drivers, he highlights the part women played in transporting the sick and wounded back down the line to hospital and the treatment they meeded.

 

Branch Meeting 20th July 2012

The IWM's Peter Hart is this month's guest speaker.  Peter has produced a number of books on the Great War and appeared on many TV programmes about the conflict.  His talk is entitled;

“The French at Gallipoli”

This presentation concentrates on the, largely unheralded, French contribution to the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, both at sea and on land.  Usually considered as a British, Australian and New Zealand attack, Peter explains how the French became to be considered, by some, to be the most effective fighting force on the peninsular.