Members' meeting on the theme of the Great War, Friday 13 November

At this well-attended meeting, (32 members and guests, of whom about half contributed a reading), a wide range of contributions constituted an enjoyable and moving evening. Many of those present were only one generation younger than those who had had personal experience of the war and its consequences. Individual contributions were limited to 5 minutes, but many of the participants may have been prompted to follow up some of the literary and vernacular material presented. One member related the story of his father's name having been mistakenly included on a village war memorial. Well-known authors represented included Ford Madox Ford (ne Ford Hermann Hueffer), Freya Stark, Edward Thomas, Erich Remarque, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke. The secretary read a moving contemporary account of the famous 1914 Chistmas truce, possibly including a football match, between Allied and German troops in no-man's land, a story of great poignancy in view of what was to follow. Less bearable were details of treatment of terrible facial disfigurement, and a first-hand account, broadcast 60 years after the event, of what it felt like to kill another human being with a bayonet. I'm sure everyone present had plenty to think about as they left the meeting, which I hope all those taking part will consider a great success, and very topical.  LY