Family histories revealed in poignant Great War display

A First World War exhibition shared items donated by Bolney families and informed attendants of what life was like for soldiers in the trenches.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Aug 2014, 07:06 BST
WWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve RobardsWWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve Robards
WWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve Robards

Gillian Pickett visited the exhibition at St Mary Magdalene’s Church on Cowfold Road with a picture of her grandfather, Arthur Edmond Cassam, with hopes to find out more about him.

She said: “We were thrilled because we weren’t really expecting to find out anything because he came from Kent, we didn’t know he lived in Bolney.

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“Before he went away he got married in the church in Bolney, and he had quite a few siblings which we didn’t know about, one of which died at five months .”

WWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve RobardsWWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve Robards
WWI exhibition at Bolney Church, the WWI memorial plaque. Pic Steve Robards

She explained that the exhibition was very informative.

“There was a lot of information about the life of a soldier, and in the trenches, even how they went to the toilet and got rid of that!”

She also discovered that her grandmother’s father was well known by the historians, as he was in the locally well renowned Alcock family.

“We didn’t know about that, they knew the name straight away,” she added.

Related topics:Kent