Author Archives: Magicfingers

Westham – St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard

Posted on February 11, 2023 by Magicfingers

Just a mile inland from Pevensey Bay and the English Channel, this is St. Mary’s church in Westham, on the Sussex coast. Where we find another locked church, I’m afraid,… …although the churchyard would make the visit worthwhile.  To refresh … Continue reading →

Posted in Sussex East, U.K. Churches, Memorials & Cemeteries - Back in Blighty | 6 Comments

St. Luke’s Church, Stone Cross & Westham War Memorial

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Magicfingers

The church of St Luke at Stone Cross, built as a memorial to a Lieutenant Colonel Charles William Owen, who died in 1922, was opened in 1929 as a chapelry of St. Mary’s Church in nearby Westham, long before eventually … Continue reading →

Posted in Sussex East, U.K. Churches, Memorials & Cemeteries - Back in Blighty | 4 Comments

Austro-Hungarian Hand Grenades of the Great War Part Two – The Ball Rohr Stielhandgranate

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Magicfingers

This is the Ball Rohr Stielhandgranate (stick grenade), once attached to a cardboard handle (as in the replica inset), remnants of which you can still see inside the ball in the main picture. 

Posted in Austro-Hungarian Grenades, Weaponry & Relics | 4 Comments

Great War Postcards No. 63 – A Quartet of Curious French Postcards

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Magicfingers

I shan’t be saying much about these cards.

Posted in Postcards | 21 Comments

Knoddishall War Memorial

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Magicfingers

Another locked church, but we do have a war memorial.

Posted in Suffolk, U.K. Churches, Memorials & Cemeteries - Back in Blighty | 5 Comments

‘How It Feels To Be Shot’

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Magicfingers

‘Then there came a crash. It sounded to me like someone had dropped a glass bottle into a porcelain bathtub. A barrel of whitewash tipped over and it seemed that everything in the world turned white.’ 

Posted in 1918 - The Allied Advance East, Soldiers | 6 Comments

Arras – London Cemetery, Neuville Vitasse

Posted on January 6, 2023 by Magicfingers

How about we start the New Year with a random cemetery visit?  I happened to find myself here last summer, at this burial ground a few miles south east of Arras – I’ll show you a map in a while … Continue reading →

Posted in Arras, World War II | 18 Comments