28th April 2016

Walking the Zeppelin route

Today members of the History Group were delighted to join a group of schoolchildren on a commemorative Zeppelin walk. In cold and rainy conditions, teachers Helen Snelson, Sara Bowland and Ruth Lingard brought students from the Mount and Millthorpe Schools, to explore what happened on that tragic evening in May 1916.

First we watched Councillor Julie Gunnell unveil a plaque outside Millthorpe School, in memory of the people who died in the 1916 bombing.

Then Helen and Sara took us round the key sites, painting a picture of the dramatic events of the evening of 2 May 1916. Our History Group had been able to provide valuable archival material to contribute to the story, which complemented contemporary accounts from the Mount archives.

The children planted commemorative crosses in front of the two houses where people were killed by the Zeppelin attack.At Upper Price Street it was particularly interesting to hear from current resident, Alastair Hudson, who explained how the rebuilt house had been affected by the attack.

 

 The event was filmed by Chris Maudsley, as a record of our Zeppelin commemorative events.

This has proved a most valuable opportunity for our community history group to work with local schools in exploring the history of the First World War and its impact on our neighbourhood.