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Exhibitions
- 'Adventurers and Pirates' - Hetton Coal Company, 1820
- Looking back at Consett Steel Works
- Celebrating Gala Day 2020
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County Durham remembers VE Day 1945
- 'We have come through' - Remembering VE Day 1945
- 9th Battalion DLI: From D-Day to Berlin
- 9th Battalion DLI: VE Day
- 9th Battalion DLI: In Berlin, June - September 1945
- Berlin Victory Parade, 7 September 1945
- Victory Parade at Belsen, 8 May 1945
- The Northern Echo, Victory edition, 9 May 1945
- VE Day and Durham Schools
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Burma 1945
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Rangoon Victory Parade, 15 June 1945
- VE Day and the Durham Miners' Association
- County Durham celebrates VE Day
- Haswell Victory Celebrations, 1945
- Soldier: Victory Souvenir edition, 8 May 1945
- Parade: European Victory edition, 26 May 1945
- VE Day not forgotten by one Spennymoor family
- County Durham celebrates VJ Day
- Victory Day, 8 June 1946
Reserve
Hobbies in the reserve trenches and billets were more varied than those that could be practised in the cramped and dangerous front-line trenches.
This photograph is of a match at Mametz Wood, France in 1916 between the 7th and 9th Battalions The Durham Light Infantry.
Unfortunately we don't know who won. Sergeant Barclay noted in his diary the score of another match '9DLI v. G[renadier] Guards 0-3'
.
Throughout his diary he noted every time he ate eggs or drank champagne. This was a particularly good week 'eggs practically a daily occurrence now'
.
See a full transcript of Sergeant Barclay's diary from February 1917.
Although not a regular treat, champagne was available in the trenches - there is an unopened bottle in the Durham Light Infantry objects collection.
This photograph shows Mr. Scott-Scott of the 53rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, and Captain Hill, on a wooden raft with Major Harter steadying the raft in the water. It was taken in France between 1914 and 1915.
In his diary, Reverend J.A.G. Birch, chaplain to the 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, described a fishing trip near Ypres in June 1915.
See a full transcript of Rev. J.A.G. Birch's diary from June 1915.
These railway tickets are for the Ypres area.
Probably the most popular pastime, however, was returning to Britain on leave. Only during the fiercest fighting was leave cancelled, and this was rare enough to draw comment: Barclay noted in his diary the day before the Battle of the Somme that leave had been stopped. Combined leave and railway tickets were given to the soldiers, with a destination railway station given.
While on leave, soldiers and officers had to wear uniform and carry this leave pass with them at all times. This was partly because some soldiers who returned to Britain on leave did not want to go back to fight again and tried to 'disappear' - they deserted.