My good friend Jenny Antill posted the following on her blog yesterday morning:
How is Suffolk County Council going to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One in 2014?
This was a question put to the Leader of the Council at Thursday’s Council Meeting. He responded that events would be planned not just for next year, but during the three that follow.
Some 10,000 men from Suffolk died in the Great War, and six men born in Suffolk were awarded the Victoria Cross. Included in their number was Skipper Thomas Crisp, pictured here, Crisp was born in Lowestoft, and he received the award posthumously for his brave defence of his small armed fishing boat against a German submarine. The full story can be read on Wikipedia.
The County Council is working with the Military Covenant Group and the Suffolk Strategic Heritage Forum to plan a range of commemorative events across the county. It is hoped that the community will be closely involved and that the events will be informed by research that is being carried out at the Suffolk Record Office. The archive of the Suffolk Regiment, held in Bury St Edmunds, is likely to be of importance. There will also be projects to raise awareness in schools and colleges, a touring exhibition, and the display of newly digitised material on the SCC website.
Incidentally, Jenny has posted 900 items on her blog since she started in 2007. See http://jennyantillsblog.blogspot.com/