A tale of uplifting heroism (continued)

Audlem Online readers may recall last Christmas we published the story by Audlem resident Peter Oxley about his grandfather, Sergeant George Dickinson, who served in WW1 in the Cheshire Regiment.

(Search 'Uplifting' for original article on the Homepage. You can also click on any of the photos to enlarge them.)

After many months of training and marching around North East France and Belgium in 1916, keeping a daily diary of his adventures in the trenches, when he finally went into battle at Vimy Ridge, near GIvenchy, George was badly wounded but then miraculously saved by a German soldier! 

Subsequently AudlemOnline were contacted by Joanne Dunn, the curator at the Stockport Story Museum (George was from Stockport) who was interested in the story and was planning a major exhibition (called 'Keep the home fires burning') there for 12 months from November 2014.

AudlemOnline's Editor quicky put Joanne in touch with Peter who also contacted George's only survivng child, Margaret Ashton (Peter's Auntie) .

The two then met Joanne and showed the various memorabilia that belonged to George including his original tiny 'Gypsy' diary, Campaign medals, cap badge and trench maps showing the Vimy Ridge battleground and trenches.

Jo and the museum staff were clearly delighted with such a find of genuine artifacts from the 'Great War' and requested if they could display these items and asked Peter and Margaret if they would star in a video in which they would talk about George.

Peter was to speak about the background and historical significance of the contents of the diary and Margaret discussed her Dad and the impact the Great War and the injuries he sustained had on the family and the rest of his life.
 
The interview was unscripted and somewhat daunting to film as neither of them had done anything like that before, but the (50 minutes long)  results were so good that it took weeks of discussions to decide which bits could best be used in the final (much shorter) version for the exhibition display.

On Friday 7th November the finished exhibiton was shown to a specially selected audience only, including many others who had also been interviewed or made contributions of photos, keepsakes etc, with tea and cakes  (WW1 fashion) served free of charge, in the period decorated WW1 / WW2 cafe!

Everyone agreed the great work done by Joanne and her team in Stockport was fantastic and a fitting & moving tribute to so many who served their country and often made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom in 'The War to End all Wars'.

The exhibition officially opened on  11th November, and runs to November 2015, and is well worth a visit as the many superb exhibits, displays and video features are fascinating to anyone with an ineterest in the First World War, and is highly recommended for a visit!

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.