Forncett Great War Project

In 2014 Forncett History Group launched a project, led by Jackie Scully (now Lanaway), to mark the centenary of the First World War with a focus on the impact of the war on the parishes of Forncett St Mary and Forncett St Peter. The project was intended to preserve the memories and heritage of the people who lived through the First World War. It led to the production of a display, in the form of a Timeline, following the developments and effects locally over the four years of the conflict, and to the publication of Books of Remembrance for each church, honouring those men who gave their lives in time of war. The Group received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund's "First World War: then and now" programme, from Norfolk Community Foundation and from South Norfolk Council.

The culmination of three to four years research and a year in the planning was a Service of Dedication of the Forncett Book of Remembrance by the Bishop of Norwich in the ancient parish church of St Peter on Remembrance Sunday 2014.

L - R: John Webster, The Lord Bishop of Norwich, Jackie Scully, and Rev Suzanne Cooke

The production team for the Book of Remembrance comprised Jackie Scully, John Webster, Susie Rohde and Graham Prior together with printer, Mike Dawson at Swallowtail Print. Four major bound copies were produced: one for each church, Forncett St Mary and Forncett St Peter, one for the Forncett Archive and one was presented to Bishop Graham.

In the summer of 2018 the Great War Timeline was completed and the last of the panels, from January 1918 to the Armistice of November that year, (plus post-war to June 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed) joined the rest of the Timeline in its new home at the Norfolk Tank Museum in Forncett.