Sometimes it is the smallest pieces of trivia that bring the lives of the people we are researching into sharp focus.

The project has recently been put in contact with the daughter of Farnhill WW1 Volunteer Thomas Edward Sugden.  She was able to confirm key pieces of our research — that her mother divorced Sugden, remarried, and then emigrated with her children and her second husband to Canada in 1947.

She has loaned us this photograph of Carl and Marjorie Walker (formerly Sugden), taken in the early 1950s at their home in British Columbia.

We’ve even been told the name of the dog — Corby !  He was the family’s first pet in Canada and, typically for a Labrador, he seems to be taking things easy.

The census taken on 2nd April 1911 recorded where people were living, the size of their dwellings, how they were employed, and their family structures.  It also recorded information about other buildings – including shops and places of work.

An analysis of the 1911 census returns for Farnhill has been carried out for the project.  It provides an interesting and informative snap-shot of what life must have been like for the Farnhill WW1 Volunteers.

Read more about Life and employment in Farnhill in 1911.

The project is launching an appeal for donations to enable us to restore a recently discovered Roll of Honour that originally hung in the former Methodist Church at Farnhill, and names 60 local servicemen who served during World War 1.

We were always aware that the Farnhill Methodist Church, which closed a few years ago, once had a WW1 Roll of Honour as the local History Group has a photograph of it.  However, having asked everyone we could think of who might know its whereabouts we believed it to be lost, then, it was unexpectedly handed in at one of our project events, by a former member of the church who had saved it.

Not surprisingly, the Roll of Honour is showing signs of age and is in a poor condition.  It has become permanently warped and cannot be flattened out; the cardboard backing is crumbling away along the edges; the paper has signs of insect damage, paint splashes and surface deterioration; and all the colours on the decorative borders have faded, with some totally lost. The names of the men written on it are barely legible.

We have had it examined by an expert who has suggested that it could be conserved and then a digital copy created which would be put on permanent display in the village.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has agreed that we can use some of our project grant to cover most of the cost but we have to raise £260 ourselves and hope to obtain this by means of public donations and local fundraising.

If you would like to make a donation to help us restore the Farnhill Methodist Church WW1 Roll of Honour, please send a cheque made out to Kildwick & Farnhill Institute to the following address:

Farnhill WW1 Volunteers Project
Kildwick & Farnhill Institute,
Main Street,
Farnhill,
Keighley, BD20 9BJ

The current condition of the Roll

The roll is bent out of shape and cannot be flattened.

The cardboard backing is crumbling.

 

The surface has paint splashes.

  

 

Insects have eaten away the ink and bored through the paper.

 

The inked-in names have deteriorated – some are nearly impossible to read.

A lot of the colour has faded – with some colours lost altogether.

What can be done ?

The Roll can be conserved by:

• Removing it from its cardboard backing
• Removing the paint splashes
• Cleaning the surface

A high-quality digital copy of the Roll could then be created and further restoration carried out, using digital imaging techniques, including:

• Restoring the original colours, based on other examples of this type of Roll held in museums and archives
• Re-instating the names onto the digital copy
• Framing the restored Roll under UV-opaque glass

How might it look ?

Other Rolls of this design from other chapels have been restored.

This one is from a chapel in Bottesford, Leicestershire.

How you can help

Please consider making a contribution to our appeal.  In addition to the money we can use from our HLF project funding, we need to raise:

£260

If you would like to make a donation to help restore the Farnhill Methodist Church WW1 Roll of Honour, please send a cheque made out to Kildwick & Farnhill Institute, to the Farnhill WW1 Volunteers Project, Kildwick & Farnhill Institute, Main Street, Farnhill, Keighley, BD20 9BJ.

At the end of February 2018, Kildwick School had a WW1 Study Day – and members of the Farnhill WW1 Volunteers Project were invited to attend.

Graham, the project co-ordinator, gave a talk in assembly – explaining the project and giving the pupils an insight into what life was like during the war, both at home and at the front.

The pupils then spent the day participating in three activity areas: baking, weaving & knitting, and drawing.  Graham and Helen, the project’s administrator and former pupil of Kildwick School, helped out with the activities.

A slideshow of photographs taken during the whole day is available here.  For now, here are a few of the highlights.

Baking

After hearing how WW1 food shortages meant that people had to innovate when making bread, the pupils turned their hands to traditional bread- and biscuit-making.  At the end of the day the produce was sold and the money raised added to the school’s book fund.

 

Weaving and knitting

At assembly the children heard how many of the men who fought in WW1 worked in local mills.  They also learned how pupils at the school during the war had taken up knitting to make socks and scarves for the men at the front.

Artwork — Portraits, maps and airships

The project has collected photographs of a number of the Farnhill WW1 Volunteers.  The pupils used these to create some portraits of their own.

The Farnhill WW1 Volunteers came from all parts of the village.  This was used as the starting point for investigating how maps of the area have changed over time.

The pupils heard how, in 1918, a pair of British Naval airships passed over the school.  They decided to find out more about airships and do some drawings.

End-of-day Assembly

More photographs from the Kildwick School WW1 Study Day will be published as a slideshow soon.

John William Dawson served in the Royal Field Artillery during WW1 and kept a signals training notebook. After the war his wife Annie put the book to a different use, using the blank pages to record recipes and household hints, starting at the back with the pages turned upside down.

A slideshow has been created showing both uses of the notebook.

Slideshow – John William Dawson’s notebook