Report from W.I.

It was the AGM for the Women's Institute in Natland and Oxenholme in November. Click here for the report.

Santa is a'coming to town.

On Sunday 2nd December 48151 The Santa Express will arrive Oxenholme 11:25 depart 11:43 northbound. Southbound Oxenholme 15:12 then held in the Upper Goods Loop until 15:32.

Pat Williams

Agenda for next Parish Council meeting.

There will be a meeting of Natland Parish Council on the 26th November at 7pm in Natland Village Hall. Click here for the Agenda.  The Budget Statement and the Cash Statement are also available.

The Fallen Remembered by John Chandler

At the end of the First World War, the Great War as it was then called, various ways of acknowledging the huge sacrifice made by so many of our service personnel were inaugurated.   For the most part these took the form of a Cross in a prominent place in towns and villages, often a churchyard as in Natland.  The names of all those who made the supreme sacrifice were eligible to be included on their local War Memorial. 

The Memorial Cross plus plaques.

However, this was sometimes where the problems began. Did the hero, who most probably lay in a corner of a  foreign field, have his name (it usually was he) engraved on the memorial where he was born, where he grew up, where he enlisted, where his family now lived or where a local committee agreed it could appear? 
This could mean that the fallen did not have their name recorded anywhere, if the local committee did not agree, or the family had moved on.  Or sometimes the opposite could be the case that the name was recorded more than once, the record is believed to be seventeen appearances on different war memorials.

The Original Plaque

The names on the original War Memorial of St. Mark’s Church were of six local men:
Alexander Cragghill, Thomas Elleray, John Gilbert Fallowfield, James Francis Inman, John Edward Inman, George Ernest Howard Keesey.
Follow this link to find out more about them.

The New Plaque

However, there are eleven other names associated with St. Mark's Church, Natland and Oxenholme who have been added by the addition of a new plaque: Reuben Blakeman, George Davies, John Hudson, Henry Keenan, Michael McGrath, Herbert Nixon, Frederick James Paget, James William Rooksby, Charles Reginald Spratt, Lewis Edward Watson, Thomas Young.  Follow this link to find out more about them.
With the exception of Herbert Nixon and Michael McGrath the names listed were, during the pre-war period,  "inmates" (that is what they were called) at the Institution St. Mark's Home for Waifs and Strays. 
Gathering information on any of them has not been easy as tracing their backgrounds has been difficult.  Keenan, McGrath and Paget are all known or believed to be on Memorials elsewhere.  Nixon and Spratt are not believed to be on any Memorial.  It is not known if Blakeman, Davies, Hudson, Rooksby, Watson and Young have their names on any memorial other than Natland.  Some "inmates" were sent to Canada and consequently were "inmates" at a sister home in Canada.  Many will have joined the Canadian Forces.

More details of each of the above can be found in a red book at the rear of Church along with details of many who survived.

The Weather in October

October	2018	2017
Temperature at 8 a.m.	8.5° C	10.75° C
Minimum Temperature (Ave)	7.0° C	9.1° C
Maximum Temperature (Ave)	11.4° C	14.1° C
Rainfall	145 mm 5.8"	203.5 mm 8.1"

October rainfall was slightly below average. There were a lot of dry days

with heavy rain between 12 to 14 October (Storm Callum). Temperatures

were about normal with a cold spell at the end of the month. John Dobson

Craft Exhibition - result

Thank you to everyone who lent items for the Craft Exhibition last Saturday, and to Marion Thornton for demonstrating rag rug making. The item voted the favourite was the machine embroidered picture 'Pink beach on Loch Ainort' by Mary Taylor.

Parish News for November.

Click here to catch up on church happenings and much more. The school are Lighting up the Natland Night again on Friday 9th November @ 6pm, with a dance performance on the Village Green (see page 9 for details). The details of all the services that Age UK are offering are on page 12, and there's a reminder of the Simon and Garfunkel Concert on the 30th November, (page13). It's a time of remembering, too, with a special services to remember those we have loved and lost on the 2nd November at 7pm in church, and all the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and Peace, (pp.6-8).