Last plea for project honouring fallen
Members of a history group in Telford have made a final plea for information to help them complete a book.
Wellington Remembers 1914-1918 would like to hear from anyone with information, stories, photographs, or from descendants of the 184 commemorated on the Lych Gate at All Saints Church in Wellington.
They are also appealing for anyone else who is interested in the project and volunteers who would be willing to help search for final pieces of information.
Mary Rogers, of the group, said the project was reaching an exciting climax.
She said: “After receiving Heritage Lottery Funding we have spent many months poring over war diaries, census details and listening to the stories of local people and we have now reached the stage of completing a first draft of the book.
“Before we publish the long awaited book, we are making one final push for information to enhance the stories.”
The group has written biographies for most of the names listed, including one woman, Laura Birch, who worked at Shawbury for a short time before being killed in a motor accident.
They have no information on three of the names - D E Shuker, B I Thomas and A Thomas of Machine Gun Corps, but A Thomas is believed to be a duplicate.
“We need to get this all compiled as soon as possible,” Mary added.
“It has been a huge undertaking for this small group of dedicated volunteers.
“We are all very passionate about the project and excited to reach the stage we have - we are just urgently searching for the final pieces of the puzzle.”
Wellington Remembers 1914-1918 has some photographs but would like to find better quality images if possible.
Using its £9,500 grant the not-for-profit group will employ a professional proofreader to ensure the document is of high quality.
The project will produce both digital and a limited number of hard copies of the biographies.
Anyone who can help can contact the group on wellingtonremembers@outlook.com, call 07944 435 978, search for Wellington Remembers 1914-1918 on Facebook or visit wellingtonremembers.wordpress.com. Documents can be posted to: Wellington Remembers, c/o The Old Granary, Limekiln Lane, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 9EZ.
