A SPECIAL history day will be held at Wells Town Hall in June to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Maria Gregg, a member of the Wells Branch Royal British Legion committee, is organising the event on behalf of the Legion.
It will take place on Saturday, June 8 – the nearest weekend to the anniversary of the start of the invasion of Normandy during the Second World War that was launched on June 6, 1944 (D-Day).
She is planning a number of display boards and exhibition areas on different aspects of the war, and would like to hear from anyone who has interesting items from the era that can be exhibited.
She would also like to hear from people who have a link to D-Day or to the Second World War in general, including people who might have moved to the Wells area as evacuees, so that their stories can be told on the display boards.
“I want the whole community involved. It’s all about the community, and us all pulling together,” she said.
To get the younger generation involved, one of her ideas is for schoolchildren to write postcards to send home as if they were evacuees themselves.
She would like to provide information about how some of the buildings in Wells were used during the war, the contribution of women, and what people ate at the time, including soldiers.
She is also planning afternoon entertainment on June 8 in the form of singalong dance music from the 1940s.
“I want to portray what life was like for people at the time, and bring back memories,” said Maria, who will display some of her own memorabilia.
She comes from a military family – her grandfather and uncle were involved in the Second World War, and her father was in the Army.
“I’m passionate about military history,” she said. If anybody has memories of the war to share or artefacts that can be exhibited, they can contact Maria by emailing mgsd@live.co.uk