War memories exhibition plea

People are being urged to dig out their memories of World War Two to help a Staffordshire history society roll back the years for a new exhibition.

Cheslyn Hay and District Local History Society is holding their annual exhibition this month and hopes villagers will let them borrow war time items for a display.

After the success of last year's World War One display members are turning their attention to World War Two and hope people will let them borrow their old war medals, pay books and other items.

It is hoped that by using the memories of villagers it will give those who view the exhibition a better understanding of what happened during wartime in the area.

Trevor McFarlane, society chairman, said: "We are appealing for a whole range of items from World War Two. We will look after them and items will be returned."

The exhibition will take place on Saturday, September 29 at Cheslyn Hay Village Hall, Pinfold Lane 10am-6pm. The group will also be launching a new book tracing the history of Cheslyn Hay at the event.

It will feature about 130 photographs of the village from bygone days and a total of 1,000 copies have been printed to ensure there is enough to go around.

Copies of the book, Cheslyn Hay The Golden Years, are £5 and money raised will help the society, which produced the book.

Other society events include a talk on Christmas and New Year customs by Raymond Rush on October 25 and a talk on the life of film star Madeleine Carroll by Terry Price on November 29. Historian Tony Hunt is booked to speak about local crimes of the past under the title The Wild West of Cheslyn Hay on January 31.

The events take place in the School Room at Salem Methodist Church, in High Street, on the last Thursday of each month at 7.30pm.

The group has more than 180 members and has already produced a couple of successful books, a DVD and devised guided walks around sites of interest. For information or to discuss war items, call Mr McFarlane on 01922 414772 or go to www.cheslynhay.info