Tuesday 22nd December 1914

The Grassington recruits home on leave from Aldershot were entertained at Grassington Town Hall. The event was reported in the Craven Herald (1^st January 1915):

Entertainment

The children of Grassington School gave an entertainment at the Town Hall on the 22^nd, comprising the play “Dick Whittington”. The second part of the programme consisted of songs and recitations. The object was two-fold, viz. to give the Grassington recruits who were home on furlough a pleasant evening and buy them some comforts before going to the front. After paying for the panic bolts which had to be purchased before the license could be obtained, the proceeds were handed over to the Rifle Club Committee, who afterwards held a supper and dance. The money from both parties will be put together and wisely spent for the young soldiers. Corporal Eley, Lance Corporal Oldfield and Pte. Stubbs were on duty in the Hall.

 

A social event for the returned soldiers was also held in Long Preston. The report in the Craven Herald is incomplete but it makes clear that, “In the interval Mrs. Shipman (wife of the Vicar), in the absence of Mrs. Sharp, who had prepared Christmas presents for the local recruits, handed the presents to about a dozen men from the 10^th Battalion West Riding Regiment. It had been intended to give each one a cardigan jacket, but the sample sent was not suitable. The whole company, joining hands, sang “Auld Lang Syne”, the gathering concluding with cheers for the soldiers”.