On 15th September, over 60 people attended the talk by June Lewis, Fairford’s historian and the Society’s president, on the topic of “Fairford at War”. Among the subjects covered were the Home Guard, the Fire Service, and how Fairford’s residents pulled together to cope with the wartime situation. Mr Hedges at Farmor’s School had to cope with an influx of about 90 evacuee children from London. This was especially interesting for two ex-evacuees as they had travelled from their homes in Wales and Herefordshire especially to hear the talk. They found their names on the list of evacuees attending Farmor’s School and one evacuee, Mr Harris, was able to identify himself in a photograph in June’s book ‘The Cotswolds at War’.
An excellent array of photographs entitled “Fairford at War” from Edwin Cuss’ collection were displayed and aroused a great deal of interest.
Also on display were some nostalgic items (for some of the audience) that had been loaned from the wartime collection of the Corinium Museum. Refreshments included biscuits, which were made according to wartime recipes, i.e. not quite as sweet as we are used to nowadays!