Our exhibition, Our Boys, Cockshutt Remembers the Fallen of the Great War, set out to tell the real-life stories, before conscription, of the men behind the names on the War Memorial.

It was a theme which evidently intrigued a great many people from both near and far, as evidenced by the contributions they made to the displays.  As each artefact (each with its own story to tell) was brought forward and added to the exhibition, it helped with the building of the powerful story of how ordinary young men, quietly getting on with their lives in a quiet, rural back-water, became embroiled in one of the most terrible, barbaric conflicts ever known.  Honourable and duty-bound, their hopes and aspirations were cruelly and swiftly snatched away as they each died a brutal, agonizing death, far from home.

It is testament to the willingness of Our Boys, to go that extra step in the pursuit of freedom, truth and justice, only too aware that death lurked all around them, that inspired so many of us to be a part of the telling of their stories.

We Will Remember Them