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Meeting again at the Williamson Art Gallery

Williamson Art GalleryWilliamson Art Gallery.

​Great News, the Western Front Association Merseyside Branch is to start meeting again in the Williamson Art Gallery on Thursday 2nd September 2021.  Further details can be found at News & Events & Speaker Programme.

Who are the Merseyside Branch?

The Merseyside Branch of the Western Front Association (WFA) was formed more than twenty years ago and meets on the first Thursday of each month at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Slatey Road, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH43 4UE.

As well meeting once a month, the branch also has days out visiting places with Great War interest, once every two years a Battlefield Tour, a yearly Exhibition, the Christmas Bash, Zoom Talks and much more.

Want to learn more about the branch?  Click here, or you can: -

Email us: wfa.merseyside@gmail.com

​Visit our Facebook Page: Merseyside Branch Western Front Association
Western Front Association Merseyside Branch Events.
Some of the Branches many Events.

Branch Events

As well as the once a month Branch Meetings at the Williamson Art Gallery and our regular Zoom Meetings the branch is also involved in many other activities.

Since 2013 the branch has hold an Great War Exhibition in the Visitor Centre in Birkenhead Park on the Great War.  We have held branch Exhibitions between 20213-2019, seven in total.  Only missing the last two years, 2020/21 due to the pandemic.

The branch goes on regular visits to places of interest throughout the United Kingdom.  This can involve visiting a local area, where a member of the branch gives a talk about local people from that area who served in the Great War, walking around pointing out were they lived and any memorial they had in the local Churchyard.  The Branch also also travelled further a field visiting sites of Great War interest in the North & Midlands of England.

As well as our shared interest in the Great War we also like to meet up socially.  With one of those events being the "Christmas Bash".  On the first Thursday of December each year we meet up at the "Refreshment Rooms", Rock Ferry, for a pre-Christmas meal.  We missed 2020 "Christmas Bash" due to the Pandemic, but 2021 "Christmas Bash" is at present going ahead.
The Western Front Association Merseyside Branch Great War Exhibition.
The Branch Great War Exhibition.
The Western Front Association Merseyside Branch International Visit.
The Branch International Visit.
The Western Front Association Merseyside Branch visit to the Trench Experience at Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales.
The Branch visit to the Trench Experience at Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales.
The Western Front Association Merseyside Branch
The Branch "Christmas Bash" at the Refreshment Rooms 2018.

Branch Meetings

The Last Branch Meeting was on 4th November 2021 and the Speaker was the Deputy Chairman of the Western Front Association Merseyside Branch, Juliet Beastall and the talk was entitled "On This Day".

The next get together for the branch is the Christmas meal at Refreshment Rooms, Rock Ferry on Thursday 2nd December.

The next meeting at the Williamson Art Gallery is on Thursday 6th January 2022 – The annual AGM followed by talk by the Chairman of the Western Front Association Merseyside Branch, Peter Threfall on the "A Monyash Grenadier".

​Details of our future talks for 2022 can be found here.
Branch Meeting on 7th October 2021, speaker was Peter Threlfall. The talk was on The Story Behind Two Photographs.
Branch Meeting on 7th October 2021, speaker was Peter Threlfall. The talk was on The Story Behind Two Photographs.

Zoom Meetings

As well as meeting at the Williamson Art Gallery the branch has regular Zoom meetings every month.

Due to the Pandemic we were enable to meet in the Williamson Art Gallery since March 2020.  So from the summer of 2020 it was decided to keep branch members in touch with each other we would have regular Great War Talks on 
Zoom.  Due to the success of the talks it was decided that even through we can now meet up again in person the talks on Zoom would continue. 

​If you wish to attend a Zoom meeting, please email for login details. 
Rory Renner, Zoom Talk 6th May 2021 Queens College Taunton (Part 2)
Roly Renner, Zoom Talk 6th May 2021, Queens College Taunton (Part 2)
Graham Read Zoom Talk 19th August 2021 2 Reds In The Great War, And The 1915 Betting Scandal
Graham Read Zoom Talk 19th August 2021, 2 Reds In The Great War and The 1915 Betting Scandal.

Grave Commemoration Project

The Grave Commemoration Project was setup to remember the men & women who fell during the Great War.  The names of men & women who lost their lives during the Great War can be found on Memorials to the Missing, a War Grave maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, local War Memorial, a Plaque in their local Church or place of work.

They are also remembered on the Family Gravestone or Memorials in the local churchyard.  Our aim is to visit local churchyards in the Merseyside & Cheshire areas and take photographs of these Memorials and add the details of these men & women to a database.  So far we have collected details and photographs of over 1000s gravestones.

For details of some of the gravestones we have taken pictures of click here.
One of the many gravestones photographed for our Grave Commemoration Project.
One of the many gravestones photographed for our Grave Commemoration Project.

Cheerio

Western Front Association Merseyside Branch CheerioCheerio
If you would like to receive a copy of the branch newsletter, Cheerio, get in touch on the email address about.

The newsletter is published ever two months and is filled full of articles from the knowledgeable members of the Western Front Association Merseyside Branch.  It is available in a hard copy or in PDF format.

To read previous copies of Cheerio, which are available to download, click here.

Members' Pages

Members of the Merseyside Branch of the Western Front  Association have their page where they can contributed Articles & photographs to the website. 

To view the Articles & Photographs please ​click here.
The Brooding Soldier Canadian Memorial at St Juliaan, Vancouver Corner, near Ypres.
The Brooding Soldier Canadian Memorial at St Juliaan, Vancouver Corner, near Ypres.
Picture
The Western Front Association was formed in 1980 to maintain interest in the period 1914-1918, to perpetuate the memory, courage and comradeship of those on all sides who served their countries in France and Flanders and their own countries during the Great War. It does not seek to glorify war and is non-political. For a modest annual subscription, our members receive a wide range of benefits. In particular, belonging to the WFA provides you with the opportunity of meeting like-minded people to learn, share, explore and exchange information and knowledge in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. You will also receive our regular, high-quality publications Stand To! and Bulletin in total six times a year.
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Further information and details of membership can be found on the WFA website. 
Merseyside Branch of the Western Front Association