The Great War now on lasting record in the Deepings

People from all four corners of the Deepings remembered the sacrifices made by the area during World War I.

A launch event for a new book and DVD, The Deepings Remember 1914 to 1918, about the War’s impact on Deeping Gate, Deeping St James, Market Deeping and West Deeping, was held at the Deepings Community Centre on Saturday.

One visitor was Nicola Allen from Australia whose great uncle William Newborn Plowright of Deeping St James was a stretcher bearer who died in 1917.

Nicola said: “I’m really thrilled to be here and it’s brilliant to find out exactly what my great uncle went through.

“What I thought was the most marvellous thing was finding a book written by somebody in his regiment (Canadian Army Medical Corps) who wrote down exactly what my great-grandfather did in the War.

“I have a son who is 17 and that makes me feel a lot stronger about events like this.”

The whole project could not have taken place without the fantastic support we had from the whole community.

Susan Broccoli, who moved back to the UK from Italy a year ago having traced her great-grandfather Thomas Percival Ellis, a Private with the Northamptonshire Regiment who died in March 1915, said: “I think it’s fantastic for people to go out of their way to do this.

“My great-grandfather is mentioned on a plaque inside St Guthlac’s Church, Market Deeping, where he used to look after the gardens.

“I thought the Deepings was a collection of a town and little villages but when I came to the exhibition, I thought it was absolutely amazing.”

The book and DVD launch followed an exhibition across the Deepings last November to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I.

Judy Stevens of the Deepings First World War Commemoration Group said: “The whole project could not have taken place without the fantastic support we had from the whole community.

“We had people who had moved away but supported the exhibition by donating pictures, stories and family documents.

“The book and DVD are lasting memorials to the exhibition and the War, so I was delighted to see so many people at the launch.

“For me, the Deepings is such a big community and we want to keep it that way.”