Local History Hero - Mark Sutton

The first time I went to one of Mark's Great War talks I came away feeling as if I personally knew the men he had mentioned.

He told the story of the battles they fought in and the ones that claimed them, but it was not all about their military service. Mark talked about the men and their life before the Great War - the street where they lived; the family fish shop on the corner; the railway factory where so many of them worked; their sweethearts, wives and children.

These men were not just a regimental number, a casualty, missing, killed in action, they were someone's son, someone's husband, a father, a brother. Some fought for freedom, some volunteered for an adventure, no one came home unchanged, so many never came home at all - and Mark introduces you to everyone of them.

Remembering Swindon's sons who served has been a lifetime commitment for Mark. In 2006 he published Tell Them of Us, but his work has continued since then. Just last month he has been out to France to visit the Swindon men buried there.

To commemorate the centenary of the end of the Great War in 2018 Mark displayed some of his collection of artefacts at an exhibition in the Radnor Street Cemetery chapel.

You'll be lucky to get your hands on one of Mark's books now; he's given away so many of them. But it has never been about selling books, it has always been about remembering the men.

Join us at Radnor Street Cemetery on Sunday November 10 at 2 pm for a Service of Remembrance.

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