Friday, March 29, 2024
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War history in the hills

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unveiling

The final year of World War I was centre stage when the Lickey Hills Local History Society and the Lickey Hills Society held their annual Open Weekend at the Lickey Hills Country Park.

Four new information boards were unveiled, offering an insight into how important this area was to the war effort. Erected by the Country Park’s volunteer group, Habitat Heroes, and positioned near the Visitor Centre, they depict the Bilberry Hill Gun Proof Range as it would have been during the latter months of 1918.

The layout of the quarry and the procedure for the testing the Howitzer Guns has been illustrated by local graphic designer Simon Woolford. Another board reveals the history of Bombardier Hudson Roberts, who was stationed at the site and played an important role in the testing.

The exhibition held In the School Room, itself a WWI building, displayed details of the men recorded on local war memorials, local aspects of the Spanish flu epidemic and the changes in suffrage, as well as some of the area’s lost churches.

The society welcomed a record number of visitors during the weekend and around a hundred people went on guided walks around the World War I and II sites on the Hills, led by Steve Hinton, Head Ranger.

Above: The new boards are unveiled by Bombardier Roberts’ daughter-in-law Ruth and former woodsmen Chris Reynold and Bill Busby, who worked in the Park in the 1960s and contributed information about buildings demolished in the 1980s. Photo by Simon Woolford