Echoes of the Great War exhibition launch

The 2014 CAHMS exhibition at Crediton Museum was launched on the evening of 22nd April when over 60 members and friends inspected the display. Over the past 6 months a working group of CAHMS members and others from neighbouring Local History groups and parishes have been researching the effect of the Great War on the local community and local families.

Chairman George Palin welcomed visitors to the event and Secretary David Nation spoke about how local people had provided invaluable help and assistance in gathering material and telling their stories. He thanked them and the Town and parish councils for their support, commenting that without the help of over a dozen local businesses, the museum would not exist. David said that donations alone were insufficient to cover the rental costs of the premises and the contributions being made by local businesses bridged the gap.

David added that he personally had found working on this exhibition most harrowing because the horrors of the war had been personalised. He quoted a touching letter from a local army officer to his uncle in 1917, describing how he had little to do except dodge enemy shells. The 21 year old wrote how the awfulness of war was apparent in the faces of the dead scattered across the moonlit shell-torn ground. He wrote how they were all someones' loved ones. A few days later he himself perished.

The exhibition is open from 10 till 4 Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and 10 till 1 on Saturdays until 25th October. Admission is free but donations are welcome!