Film tells how rich and poor from the Gaunless Valley fought and died side by side

A DOCUMENTARY about the Gaunless Valley’s involvement in the First World War is expected to be completed this summer.

A project of the recently formed Evenwood, Ramshaw and District History Society, the hour-long documentary will not only tell the stories of some of the men listed on

the memorials in villages throughout the valley, but also of those who remained behind and their contribution to the war effort. Society chairman Kevin Richardson said the film is the culmination of years of research by the group.

He added: “We want to finish it by July because we want to hold events in community centres and halls from late August to November, with November being the centenary of the end of the war.

“It is a series of topics chronicling the war and how it affected our people.

“The first theme was the shock really – everyone thought it would be over by Christmas. Unfortunately for about a million soldiers it was.”

This section focusses on two men who died at the beginning of the war – John “Jack” Eden, the brother of Sir Anthony Eden, and Sydney Teasdale, a Butterknowle lad who worked on the coal pits in Cockfield.

This aims to show that both the gentry and ordinary working men were victims.

Mr Richardson said: “Everyone suffered. The officers suffered more than the lads in the trenches because they wore different uniforms and were targets for the Germans.”

Pte Teasdale died on September 29, 1914, and is believed to be the first Gaunless Valley man to be killed in action. He was 22.

Lt Eden died in action on October 17, 1914. He was 26.

Other parts of the war that feature in the film are the four Gaunless Valley men who went down with their ships during the Battle of Jutland and those who died during the Battle of the Somme.

Mr Richardson said: “As the war progressed, the toll increased and increased. 1918 saw the highest number of deaths and it was the highest in this area too. Until 1918 Woodland had lost two of their men. In the last year of the war they lost six soldiers.”

The documentary also takes in the work of the Voluntary Aid Detachment where the “great and the good” gave up their homes as hospitals.

One was at Red House, in Etherley, the home of the wealthy Stobart family. It will focus on the hospital commandant, Jessica Octavia Stobart, and the nurses and orderlies she recruited as volunteers. Also represented is the work done by different villages to raise cash in support of the war effort. Mr Richardson said: “Every community had a war committee and collected money for Belgium refugees or the soldiers and sailors. They would have flag days, or some entertainment, just to raise some money.”

An interesting part of the documentary is the Zeppelin raids on Evenwood and Ramshaw. Mr Richardson said the Zeppelins were headed for Leeds and believed they were seeing Scarborough when flying over Hartlepool. They mistook the coal pits for Leeds.

He said: “Fortunately there wasn’t much damage and only one fatality.”

The final chapter tells the aftermath of the war. One particularly sad story is that of John William Maughan. Mr Richardson said: “Maughan survives the war and gets leave; and the next thing he is in Catterick Hospital with influenza and dies. It’s just tragic.”

Tentatively the documentary is to be named In The Pink – WWI And The Effect On Villages In The Gaunless Valley. The name is derived from a popular phrase at the time.

Mr Richardson said: “We have a letter from Tommy Dunn in November 1916 where he said he was ‘in the pink’. He was killed in December 1916, so it is quite poignant.”

The film has been financed through cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is being produced in conjunction with film company Crackin Toast.