In the week leading up to half term the school kindly sent out a questionnaire with every pupil.

The intention was to get the children to ask their parents and grandparents about the First World War and whether they had a relative who served in the conflict. In addition it was also designed to track down family members.

Whilst not directly through the questionnaire we have through St Werburgh’s tracked down relatives of James Poyser and his story will be featured next month.

The project team are waiting to lick the results iof the survey up after the half term break and excited at the prospect of unearthing more stories and local history.

On Tuesday 30th December 2014 the project was showcased in an excellent article in the Sentinel newspaper.

It seems that they had read of the event in September and had decided it would make an excellent subject for an article.

As a result of it we have put two relatives of Edward Bradshaw in contact with each other and have been contacted by a family who have documents and photographs of Moses Holland. They are no relatives  of his but were given them following the death of his sister who was the sole surviving family member.

Click the link below to see the article as it was published – we are very proud that the project has received such attention

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Sentinel Article

The project was formally launched on Sunday 21st September 2014 with a display of the research conducted to that point and also a service in St Werburgh’s Church.

A link to the same article in Cheadle Post is HERE

Below is the press release that was in local papers the following week:

Last Sunday saw the village of Kingsley and its wider parish coming together to commemorate the centenary of the start of the first world war.

The day was chosen as it was on the eve of the centenary of the parish’s first fatality when George Harris Smith lost his life when his ship was sunk in the north sea whilst serving with the Royal Navy.

A very fitting and at times moving service in St Werburgh’s Church was conducted by the Reverend Carol Richardson with over a hundred persons present including school children from the local school who gave their thoughts on what the war meant to them.

A cross of  candles was lit by the congregation with readings and the poem  In Flanders Field by John McCrae recited during the act of commemoration.

This saw the 27 names on the villages war memorials read out plus the addition of Leonard Edwards who died as a result of his war service but seems to have been missed out.

Present were descendants of some  of those remembered as well as the small committee that have been working on the event for the last few months.

Either side of the church service the village hall was open and again over a hundred people visited a display of research conducted into the 28 from the area who are on the war memorials with of course the exception being Leonard Edwards.

Some  of the families bought photographs and other mementos of their descendants and shared them with the community.

Martin Clewlow who is a descendant of James Millward from Kingsley Moor (who survived the war) and featured in a Cheadle and Tean Times article earlier this year attended and put on a display of memorabilia from the war which was of great interest to both young and old alike.

As a result of event several families provided additional information and lines of enquiry to the committee in their quest to document as much as possible about the lives of those who died and their links with Kingsley.

Said Martyn Hordern one of the organisers ‘today was a real community event and one that allowed us to pause and reflect in a most appropriate way, having spent several months researching these men it was different this time when their names were read out’ he added ‘its ninety four years this week since Leonard Edwards died as the result of his war service and today was the first time his name has ever been read out’

The research and display created by the committee will now be loaned to St Werburgh’s school to allow the children studying the war to better understand its impact on the local community.

Monday 5th January 2015 saw the launch of a web site intended to honour those men from the parish of         Kingsley who lost their lives as a consequence  of their service in the First World War.

A small group of parishioners has over the last twelves months or so worked to highlight the parishes links to the war and its effects on those who lived here during those times.

This website will hopefully record the work of the group as we carryout the aims we have set ourselves as a result of a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Please do keep returning to see the site and out project develop in the coming months.

One feature will be a monthly focus where in chronological order we will detail on the anniversary of their deaths the history of the men who died.

The first one to be featured is George Harris Smith who died in the opening weeks of the war and whilst this feature is out of sync as it were we felt it important to start with him as he was the first to loose his life.

If anyone visiting the site has information to give on these men or indeed any local man who fought in the war please get in touch via the contact us page.

In addition we are keen to recruit more volunteers to the group as the project will offer many opportunities to get involved.