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Key dates over January 1915

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 1

28th January 1915 - Council to approve tarmacing of pavements

Rolling casualty count: 620

1st Batt: La Gorgue: Corps Reserve Billets; 2nd Batt: Germans still very active with their artillery. ‘A’ and ‘B’ Coys relieved from firing line by ‘C’ and ‘D’ Coys. Ground drying rapidly. Hard frost; 3rd Batt: E. Kemmel, relieved Royal Fusrs in trenches.

Cheery Optimism: The cheery optimism of our soldiers at the front is very remarkable. One jovial Tommy, who has just written home to a friend, must be a valuable asset as a spirit-reviver to any company of soldiers. He writes in the following strain:- “When we were filed into the pool of water where we were told we must make ourselves comfortable for the night, I asked a chum to lend me a looking-glass, because my mother told me before I came to the war that I must not sleep in any strange bed unless I was sure the blankets were well aired.” Mark Twain has certainly gone, but a man who can get so much wit out of the mud, clay, and water of the scene of operations in Flanders is surely a worthy disciple of the great-hearted American humourist;

Soldiers’ Concert at the Workhouse: At the presentation to the Workhouse Master on Wednesday a concert was given by the officers, NCOs, and men of the 8th Battalion of the Worcs. Regt. At the opening Captain Dobson said the concert was given as a small return for the kindness received by the ‘C’ Company whilst attending the Workhouse for drills etc;

A meeting of the City Council will be held on Tuesday next. The Streets Committee recommend that the salary of Mr PH Wakefield, engineering assistant, be increased from £130 to £150 at once, and that an annual increase of £10 per annum be made in his salary until it reaches £180. The Streets Committee recommend that during 1915-16 Broad Street, from Bridge Street to the existing wood pavement; Foregate Street, Tything, and Barbourne Road be surfaced with tarmac, at a cost of £2,276 13s 4d, and that application be made to the Road Board for a grant of £550.

Information researched by Sue Redding