PERSHORE Abbey and Royal District Naval Association welcomed guests from the local "Remember The Fallen" Association on Saturday 11th October on their inaugural group outing. Dr Judy Dale, Church Warden of the Abbey was on hand to provide information and the group were delighted to be shown memorabilia about the War Memorial including the history of Pershore's War Memorials carried out by the late Marshall Wilson which can be purchased from the Abbey.

Amongst the Guests was the founder of the Remember The Fallen website, Mrs Sandra Taylor, who has spent over 15 years researching local war memorials and painstakingly documenting all the history of the men and women behind the names who died during both world wars. In 1999 Sandra Taylor became a volunteer fieldworker for the National Inventory of War Memorials (NIWM) and began recording and transcribing the war memorials in Worcester and the surrounding area. Once this appeared to be completed, Sandra decided that the names she had recorded deserved to be researched in order to ‘bring to life’ those commemorated rather than just remaining as a name carved on a memorial. This has resulted in a wealth of information and memorabilia that is now freely available to the public via the internet due to generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. As well as all this, Sandra has been heavily involved in the restoration and rededication of many memorials around the county including the local one at Bishampton 12 months ago.

Also in the visiting party were members of the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association Worcester Branch who, after attending many services in the Abbey, enjoyed the opportunity to study the beautiful historic building at a more leisurely pace. They were escorted by Royal Naval Association Secretary Trudy Burge who as well as knowing the Veterans, has struck up a close friendship with Sandra whilst researching the Pershore Men of the Great War.

Trudy said "I found "Remember the Fallen" from Pershore Abbey's website 6 months ago and I count meeting Sandra Taylor as one of my blessings because she has been of such enormous support to me over the past 6 months and we have so many interests in common. When she told me that she was thinking of having her first outing in Pershore, I was absolutely thrilled and immediately took her on a tour of the town to show her all the military connections we have including the Commonwealth War Graves at Pershore Cemetery, Pershore Commemorative Garden, the Town Clock, the Brandy Cask plaque and of course the jewel in our crown, Pershore Abbey to name but a few. I am deeply indebted to Dr Judy Dale for providing such a warm welcome from Pershore Abbey to our guests and also to Pershore Heritage Centre who offered the same. There is an abundance of history to our small town which we should be very proud of and it's wonderful when people uncover it for the rest of us to share. I felt like all my Christmases had rolled into one when I saw the memorabilia that the Abbey hold of the war memorial which was unveiled and dedicated on 1st November 1921 by the 9th Earl of Coventry."

The party then moved on to Pershore Heritage Centre where they were highly delighted with all the memorabilia before being welcomed by the rest of Pershore RNA Branch for lunch at Pershore Naval Social Club. Here they had the opportunity to study more historical artefacts from the Senior Service and talk to the Veterans. Here they also met with Derek & Suzanne Farmer whose brother, the late Malcolm Farmer, spent over 30 years researching local men during WW1.

Sandra Taylor's website http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/ provides people across Worcestershire the opportunity to research relatives whose name appears on a war memorial. Unfortunately the Lottery funding is coming to an end and the organisation will have to begin fund-raising to keep this resource available. If you are interested in becoming a friend of Remember the Fallen or wish to donate to this resource, please contact Sandra by email at tommy@rememberthefallen.co.uk or by post at Remember the Fallen, 3 Hunt Avenue, Worcester, WR4 0QW.

Pershore RNA's Centenary Commemorative book on Pershore Men during the Great War has this week gone to the printers and will shortly be available for purchase with all profit going to the town's Poppy Appeal.