High Wycombe District Council

A new downloadable app with videos, images and commentary enables visitors to follow a Great War trail around High Wycombe in 12 stops, ending at the museum. The trail can also be downloaded as word document or PDF.

https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/pages/Sports-leisure-and-tourism/Tourism/High-Wycombe-heritage-trail.aspx

St Mary’s Church, Oakley

Friday 28 April 2017

Edward Brooks was born in Oakley in 1883. A former regular soldier, Brooks re-enlisted in the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. CSM Brooks won the VC capturing a German machine gun at Fayet near St Quentin on 28 April 1917.

The commemorative paving stone provided by the Department of Communities and Local Government will be laid in a ceremony at St Mary’s Church between 1010 and 1115 on Friday 28 April 2018. A supporting exhibition will be in the Village Hall until 1700 on Saturday 29 April.

See www.oakleyvc.org for further details.

Saturday 17 June 2017

Aylesbury Rugby Club Ground, Weston Turville

1200-1900

Events will include a fly past between 1.00 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. by the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. There will also be the ‘First World War Village’ featuring displays of uniform and equipment as well as information on Great War servicemen with representatives from the Bucks Military Museum Trust, the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Buckinghamshire Remembers, Soldiers of Oxfordshire, and the Western Front Association.

Information and tickets from www.buckscc.gov.uk/services/culture-and-leisure/armed-forces-day-2017/

Wanted: Members of the Armed Forces Community

28-30 July 2017

Silver Birch: A People’s Opera will be performed on Garsington Opera’s Stokenchurch stage from 28 to 30 July. Silver Burch is an original story on the modern themes of war and family with echoes of the past through Siegfried Sassoon, a regular visitor to Garsington during the First World War. It is intended to involve over 180 community participants. 

The project is open to all from the Armed Forces Community – currently serving personnel, wounded, injured and sick service personnel, veterans, reservists, those transitioning to civilian life, and service family members aged over 16. Roles on offer include singing, acting, front of house, and backstage. No previous experience is required.

A unique opportunity to be part of a one-off production, meet new people, and perform alongside a professional orchestra and singers.

To find out more, contact Gemma on gemmah@garsingtonopera.org or telephone 07796 244335

www.garsingtonopera.org

BMMT in conjunction with Marlow Royal British Legion, the Centre for Buckingahsmhire Studies, and the Marlow Remembers World War One Association

Saturday 18 February 2017

1000-1600

RBL, Lock Road, Marlow, SL7 1NT

Learn about the Great War Virtual Trail

Search our databases of Bucks servicemen

Get advice on researching First World War servicemen

Bring along your Great War memorabilia for identification

Displays 

Showing of ‘Our County at War’

Bucks County Museum, the Battlefields Trust and the John Hampden Society

A series of lectures at the Bucks County Library, Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP

Saturday 12 November 2016 Professor Ian Beckett: Buckinghamshire in the Civil War

Saturday 3 December 2016 Simon Marsh: Southam and Edgehill: An Introduction to War

Saturday 21 January 2017 Simon Marsh and Dr Stephen Porter: Brentford and Turnham Green – Decisive Intervention

Saturday 25 February 2017 Simon Marsh: Reading and Chalgrove – Disease and Death

All at 2.30 p.m. Price £7.50 each, or all four for £25

www.buckscountymuseum.org/museum/whats-on

Stewkley Local History Group

Wednesday 23 November 2016, 8.00 p.m. 

The Stewkley Local History Group will be showing the Our County at War film at Stewkley recreation Ground Pavilion, Soulbury Road, Stewkley 

£3 per head to include refreshments

A celebration of Frederick Septimus Kelly (1881-1916)

Saturday 12 November 2016

7.30 p.m. All Saints Church, Marlow

A celebration of the life and music of the Australian-born composer from Bisham, Frederick Septimus Kelly, who was killed while serving with the Royal Naval Division at Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre on the Somme on 13 November 1916. A noted oarsman, who won Olympic Gold for Britain in 1908, Kelly was a friend of Rupert Brooke and was one of those present at Brooke’s burial on Skyros in 1915. Kelly’s Elegy for String Orchestra, composed in memory of Brooke, will be among the works performed by the Chiltern Camerata.

With Andrew Green (narrator), Geraldine Rowe (soprano) and Jeremy Rowe (piano)

Tickets £10 (Under 18s free).

Enquiries and bookings: 01494 883112 and info@chiltern-camerata.org.uk

Exhibition at High Wycombe Library

31 October 2016 to 9 January 2017

An exhibition of artefacts and images from the Trust’s collection depicting the story of the Bucks Militia from earliest times to 1908 with particular reference to its presence in High Wycombe, where the regiment’s headquarters were located from 1839 to 1908.

Free entry at normal libraryopening times

This new short film was given its premiere at Pinewood Studios on 28 June 2016 in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant, Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, Bt.. Prepared by Joanna Barclay with Deborah Collett, Presiley Fitzgerald and Mary-Jane Gibson, it gives a vivid depiction of life in the county during the Great War. Through an extraordinary range of original visual material from all round the county, it shows how the war impacted everyone’s lives. Bucks lost over 8,000 men. Back home, the images convey the disruption to family life, how the role of women changed, and how children played their part in the war effort. It provides a unique insight into the critical part played by the great country houses such as Chequers and Halton, as well as the contribution of the Wolverton Works, Wycombe furniture makers and the county’s farms.

The DVD will be distributed to schools in the autumn, and is also available to the public in exchange for a donation of £10 (inclusive of post and packing), which will be divided between the Armed Forces Charity (SSAFA), and the BMMT.  Contact joannabarclay2@gmail.com