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Key dates over September 1918

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Lives lost on this day: 28

14th September 1918 - Recruiting rally was held at Droitwich

Rolling casualty count: 10618

War Front:

2nd Batt: A warning order was received for the Batt to be prepared to move at night by road or bus. The final of the Platoon Football matches was held and won by 207 Platoon of B Coy.

4th Batt: All Rifle Grenadiers of W Coy were instructed in firing. All classes continued for Lewis gunners and signallers. Pte H Morris was awarded the MM. A draft of 14 OR joined Batt.

14th Batt: C Coy worked on St Leger to Henin Road. The Rev Renshaw CF, was posted to the Batt.

Yeomanry/Cavalry: After many hours of marching through the mountains, the men went into bivouacs in the early hours. They were hidden among olive groves of Bir es Zeit, a village which was used as HQ for the 10th Infantry Division. The Regiment was 5 miles in the rear of the Front Line, but men were to be part of a scratch force, known as Watson`s Force, to hold positions vacated by advancing troops.

Home Front:

Worcester Produce Exhibition: There was only a very small attendance at the opening ceremony on Friday. In the absence of Mr. R.R. Fairbury, who had been announced to preside, the Dean of Worcester occupied the chair, and was accompanied on the platform by Viscount Deerhurst and members of the council. The Dean said the allotment movement was not only of great local importance, but of great national importance. In addition to the 100 acres of allotments under the Corporation, there were allotments in connection with the railways, the garden suburb, and there were others outside the borough boundary. If all those were added together it was considered that the produce raised from those allotments he thought the produce would provide sufficient food for 1,000 families, throughout the war. And what was being done in Worcester was also being done throughout the country, and the allotment movement was going a very long way towards providing the necessary food for the nation at this time of war, and he believed it was a movement which would be continued in a large measure after the war, and it would help to make the country in regard to food far more self-supporting than it had been in their lifetime.

To the Editor: Sir, - Several persons have enquired whether the lecture at the College Hall on Sunday afternoon, when the Rev. Cranston Brenton, of New York, will lecture on “What the American Churches think of the War” is for men only. Certainly not. Women are citizens and voters, and are as much concerned as men in all international, social, and political questions. Yours faithfully, W. Moore Ede.

The Worcester Jubilee meeting of the Order of Good Templars will be held in the College Hall next Wednesday at 8pm. Mr. R. Cadbury will preside and the Dean and Ald. Joseph Malins (who founded the Order in England) will speak. Musical items will be given by Miss Allard.

Heron Lodge Sale: On Friday the following were some of the prices realised: Carved oak settle with figure terminals of Pan and Dragoons, £13 19s.; a self-indicating barograph in mahogany and inlaid case, £16; Cathedral-chiming grandfather’s clock, £150; Turkey carpet, £12; a 4ft. 10in. walnut sideboard, £21 10s.; crimson-ground bordered Oriental carpet, £46; mahogany inlaid china cabinet, £28; one pair of electolier ormolu figures, £13 13s.; French bronze bottle-shaped vase, £18; mahogany inlaid Chesterfield, £20; and an auto-wheel, £11.

Q.M.A.A.C.- A recruiting rally was held at Droitwich on Friday afternoon, when a contingent of members from the Bristol depot marched through the principal streets, headed by the Band of the Worcestershire Regiment. A public meeting followed at the Salter’s Hall. Colonel Chichester said that the War Office had asked officers to assist this movement, as there was an urgent need of recruits. The Worcestershire Regiment had done splendidly in the war. (Applause.) It was second to none in the British Army, and, if the men had done well, why not the women? It was up to us all to help in this real national need. Miss Fairbairns (Recruiting Controller of the Corps for the Southern Command), in a lucid address, said that they could place 15,000 women immediately. Thirty thousand would not be too many, and the Southern Command hope to raise 5,000. Cooks, waitresses, and clerks were the women needed for the Corps. They could not take those who were on the land, in munitions, or teachers. She appealed to employers to release suitable women. Women were passed for overseas or home service, but they never sent one overseas if she did not want to go, or if they were under 20 years of age. Brigadier-General Hickman said that four years ago they were urging men to join the Army; now they were urging women to do so. That was a significant fact, and only meant that the supply of men was not inexhaustible, and without a sufficient supply of men, Marshal Foch’s efforts would be abortive. He did not think he was too optimistic when he said they were entering upon the last phase of the war. (Applause.) They were on the last lap of the racecourse; they could see the winning-post. They had got the barbarians on the run at last, and they had to keep them on the run. Every woman by joining the Corps would be doing the nation a very great service by releasing a man behind the front to go into the fighting line.

It is some time since Worcester people were able to enjoy opera, but they will be afforded an opportunity next week, when the Allington Charsley Opera Company will present seven operas, including some of the most popular in operatic repertoire. The programme is:_ Monday, “Il Trovatore”; Tuesday, “Maritana”; Wednesday, “Faust”; Thursday, Balfe’s “The Rose of Castille”; Friday, “The Daughter of the Regiment”; Saturday, (matinee), Flotow’s “Martha,” (evening) “The Bohemian Girl.”

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team