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The Walk
On Saturday November 8, 2014 nearly a hundred people walked from They included:
- members of the men’s families,
- current residents of those homes, and
- children from Exning Primary School and their parents.
Their ages ranged from 8 to 80 plus, and being part of the racing area, included our own war horse, “Walter” who was ridden from the Laceys Lane home of Private John Davis lived who worked at a racing establishment and joined the Army Veterinary Corps to work with horses. “Walter” walked in the name of all those horses who served in the war.
Their destination was Exning Primary School in Oxford Street where they went to the “Enlistment Room” to sign their names against the names of the men they were honouring in a specially prepared book. They each received a small packet of poppy seeds (donated by Fothergills) to plant.
The “March Off”
They were then “drilled” into ranks before marching off, led by “Walter”, to “War”.
“The War”
Those who came to support them were then invited into the school hall to see an audio/visual presentation of WW1 newsreels and special presentations prepared by the pupils,
“The Welcome Home”
They went back to the playground to welcome the “troops” home.
Those who had gone to war returned in 4 groups with large poppies indicating:
those who were unscathed;
those who were damaged in mind;
those who were physically wounded; and
those who did not return.
The last group stood by an emplacement of sandbags and barbed wire and laid 80 poppy crosses, each with the name of a man who had made the ultimate sacrifice. The Last Post was played.
The Museum
The school had prepared a museum of WW1 memorabilia donated for the day by villagers who wanted to share precious items from their family members who served.
Refreshments were served
Report on the event
A display box in St Martin’s Church contains:
A replica of the signed“Enlistment Book” signed by 100+ “walkers”
A copy of Tony Pringle’s Book “Exning Remembers”
A book of photos of the Re-enactment recording events on the day
Press cuttings of coverage of the event
(To arrange to see it contact John Saville on 07968-912046)
Copies of the content of the books can be seen on this website
Financial support was given by Exning Parish Council and Forest Heath District Council.
For more on each of the above (including photos) click on the links above
For links to other World War One events in Exning click here
