Former journalist Mark Higgitt will give a talk at Badsey Community Sports & Social Club about the Severn Valley Pioneers. They were formed in the autumn of 1915, and trained at Norton Barracks before moving on to Salisbury Plain. On 20th June 1916, they sailed from Southampton to Le Havre in northern France to fight alongside the naval division.
Mark will tell of his quest to find out the identity of a soldier’s body which was uncovered in 1995. War records and research led him to conclude the unnamed soldier was one of ten Pioneers killed in the Battle of the Ancre on 13th and 14th November 1916. It is a story he cannot forget and he has spent much of his retirement visiting archives and museums. His quest continues.
Members free; non-members £2.50.
