Centenary Archive Exhibition & Party

‘St Martin’s in Wartime’

As part of its Centenary celebrations, St Martin’s Church held its third Archive Exhibition, looking at the life of the parish over the last hundred years. This latest exhibition – called St Martin’s in Wartime – was timed to run over the Remembrance Weekend 13th 14th November.

The Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Mike Layland, opened the exhibition of photos, family scrapbooks, wartime cartoons, gas masks, ration books, ID cards and other fascinating artefacts from both world wars loaned by parishioners as well as Hartlebury Museum and Tudor House Museum. There was a map of the parish showing where all the defences were in World War 2 – air raid shelters, pillboxes, water tanks and road blocks in case of invasion. Details from a street directory in 1937 gives an insight into who lived and traded in London Road at the beginning of the second World War.

Extensive research has been done on the 55 names on St Martin’s War memorial from 1920 – details of the parish’s World War 1 casualties were also on display. Parishioners’ own memories of wartime comprised another display, along with maps of where the current people of St Martin’s were during the war – ranging from Droitwich, Bletchley Park and Hampshire to Italy, Malta, Burma, North Africa (El Alamein), India, the Middle East and the Far East. (See photos of the exhibition - below - Please click on the thumbnails below, click again, then select 'download file')

On Saturday evening there was an authentic Wartime Party in the Parish Centre featuring a supper of corned beef, carrots, potatoes in a cottage pie/corned beef hash, with mashed swedes, cabbage followed by apple crumble and custard – a glass of ale, cider or ginger beer all items available in Worcestershire during the ‘40s. Entertainment included a wartime quiz and a good old sing-song! See photos and portraits of the Wartime Party on the photo gallery website page.

(Please click on the thumbnails below, click again, then select 'download file' for a further enlargement)

Wartime Party