This year's Barnsley history day was held at the town hall on Sunday. The event was opened by the Mayor and was a great celebration of local heritage. Many of the local history groups had tables and exhibitions.
The stand belonging to the Wombwell Heritage Group featured a display about Wombwell men who died on and during the Somme. The display board was the hard work of Mary Taylor. Of course the Wombwell Heritage Group couldn't have put this board together without the help of the soldier's relatives. Many of whom have donated photographs and other information for us to use.
As it is the anniversary of the start of the Somme in a few months we decided to focus on the men who died not just on 1st of July 1916 but also those who died during the many months the battle . So far I have identified 29 Wombwell men who fell on 1st July 1916, but there very well could be more.
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Display board featuring Wombwell men who fell on the first day of the Somme
and throughout many months of the conflict. |
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| Just some of the 29 Wombwell men who died on the first day of the Somme. |
I'd like to say thank you to the relatives who have provided us with information on their uncles and grandfathers for the exhibition. Sadly due to lack of space we couldn't show everything we have. Hopefully there will be some more Wombwell based events nearer the anniversary of the Somme. Where we can create a larger more in depth display.
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| Display of WW1 Arifacts |
As well as the information boards we had a table of WW1 artifacts. These included medals, cap badges, sweetheart brooches, One of our prize exhibitions is a death penny belonging to a Wombwell soldier named Frank Pettitt . Which was rescued from a scrapyard and donated to me by
Wallis Metals of Goldthorpe. Also on display were some bullets and a grenade casing recovered from the Somme.
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| French and German rounds recovered from the Somme. |
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| WW1 artifacts displayed by the Wombwell Heritage Group. |
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| Mary Taylor and Pte. Frank Inskipp's relative Jean Davies. |
Another great advantage of attending the history day is that you get to meet relatives of WW1 soldiers. Above is a photograph of Mary Taylor talking to Jean Davies. She is a relative of Pte. Frank Inskipp. Although Frank isn't on our Wombwell memorial he came from a nearby village. He was friends with a Wombwell soldier named Francis Feasey. They were both in the same regiment and according to military records died on the first day of the Somme.
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People viewing stalls at Barnsley history day.
What a great turnout! |
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| Taskers Barnsley street photography display |
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| People viewing displays at Barnsley history day. |
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| I'm going to assume this is the Mayor's car. |
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Barnsley War Memorial.
This memorial is unusual as it has no names on it. |
