Category: Community

On 1 September 1914 Len enlisted, just after finishing his apprenticeship. He joined the Leicestershire Regiment and took part in the assault on the Hohenzollen Redoubt, a massive German earthwork, during the Battle of Loos in 1915. The area was covered with mines and slag heaps and accounts of the battle indicate that there was a shortage of shells. Smoke and chlorine gas were used to compensate but these had only a limited effect. In addition, reserves were held too far back to provide support for the soldiers. The local white chalk made the British trenches conspicuous to the enemy on higher ground and the Leicesters suffered many casualties, of whom almost half were killed or died of their wounds.

In response to the article in the December Chronicle about George Maynard Ward, Jill Holmes of Deeping St James writes that her grandfather George Simons was one the men he joined up with. George had his medical examination at Market Harborough in April 1917, ten days before his 18th birthday. He was in the Reserves until 16 May and next day enlisted in Leicester. Later the two men went their separate ways. Evidence from photographs suggests that George Simons did his training at Clipstone Camp near Mansfield in Nottingham. In 1918, after training, he was sent to Étaples in France and was posted to the 15/17th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. He later joined the 9th Battalion in the field. He came through the war unharmed and returned to England in February 1919 for demobilisation.

We know a lot about the men in our families who served their country and perhaps were wounded or lost their lives in the Great War. But what were the women doing during this time of great change? Did an adventurous grandmother or great aunt of yours volunteer her services, perhaps as a nurse, driver or administrator, or go out to work on a farm or in a factory to support the war effort? Do you know anything about Daphne Wolton or Agnes Watts from Kibworth? Please contact the Chronicle if you have a story to tell.

George Maynard Ward, known as Maynard, was an ordinary Kibworth lad, the eldest of five children. He went to the Church School in the village until he was 12 or 13 and then it was out to work. In April 1917, now aged 18, he was passed fit for general military service and on 17 May, in his words, he was “called to the colours”. He records that he returned from Wigston that night in ‘civvies’ but the next day he and his friends returned ‘in khaki’. Despite the accounts that he must have seen in the papers or heard from older local lads about the war, he sounds proud to be joining up.

The Kibworth Chronicle was pleased that along with other organisations in the village they were able to mark Armistice Day by laying a wreath at the memorial stone in St Wilfrid’s Church. The Kibworth Chronicle has laid a wreath for many years now because as a community newspaper we value and enjoy the wonderful, vibrant, free community that is all around us and it may not have been this good had it not been for those from this community and others who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the many conflicts over the last 100 years.

On Sunday 9 November, in Kibworth as in villages, towns and cities across the country, wreaths were laid at the war memorial in remembrance of those who died serving their country in the two world wars and later conflicts. At a service in St Wilfrid’s Church, the long list of names was read out, clearly and reverently, giving each name a quiet moment. Three members of the congregation spoke about the experiences of their own families – the pain of loss and the joy of meeting again. Joy Hill told the story of her Great Grandfather Harold Kirk. Her account is given below.

Poems and a report from Year 9 students who recently visited the battlefields of Flanders and France.

Early one morning in October, 43 Year 9 students from Kibworth High School set off to visit the First World War battlefields of Belgium and France. The students, having studied the causes of the war and the experience of soldiers in the trenches, felt both excitement and trepidation. They were accompanied by expert Martin Featherstone to give a former soldier’s perspective on the conflict.

I was searching through some First World War records recently when I came across Kibworth’s own champion, Brigadier General James Lockhead Jack - known to us locally as ‘General Jack’ - of the Old House, Main Street, Kibworth Harcourt.

Kendall Sassoon is the only remaining grandchild of the poet and writer Siegfried Sassoon. The first thing she shows us is a silver replica of his gold Poetry Medal; the original she has given to the Caernarvon Museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers to sit beside his pistol. As she says, ‘love versus war’.