Yes, we are in the Tesco vote again!
Earlier this month we were presented with a cheque for £4,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help, so you might wonder why we have entered the vote again? Indeed, is it even allowed for us to enter a second time? The answer to the second question is “YES“, organisations can enter as many times as they want, just so long as it is not on consecutive votes.
The fact is our heritage centre is run by dedicated volunteers who do their utmost to bring money into the centre if it will help us spread the word about Brandon’s heritage. The £4,000 we received is to be spent on refurbishing our flint display. Next year the nation will commemorate the centenary of the Armistice and we would like to see Brandon put on some decent events to reflect what our town went through 100 years ago. So it is a no-brainer and we applied to Tesco for money to help us.
There will of course be the sombre acts of remembrance where we rightly reflect upon the sacrifices made. However, how many of us really know what Brandon went through? Well, the heritage centre wants to create a 16-page book – to be given free to residents and school children; highlighting some of the things that happened in the town and to the town’s men in the war.
- Did you know a Brandon shopkeeper was arrested for being an ‘illegal alien’ when war was declared?
- A Brandon man witnessed the ‘Christmas Truce’ of 1914 and we will include his account.
- Some of the men killed in the war were merely teenagers – we have some of their accounts.
- As the war lingered on we will see how it affected the lives of Brandon people – starvation, disease.
- … ultimately leading to the Armistice, which in its time was a fantastic celebration for Brandon – which we hope will be reflected in some of the events we would like to carry out.
By simply being accepted into the in-store vote we will receive £1,000. This will allow us to cover the cost of printing the book which is …
FANTASTIC!
The next step is up to you.
If we get enough votes, by people putting their tokens in our box, then we will receive cash to carry out additional Armistice events.
- Would you like to see a 1918-era Brandon derby football match played between Town Street and Rec’?
- We could also get a top quality replica uniform of the Norfolk Regiment, made by the company who made the WW1 uniforms for the Christmas Dr Who special this year. In case you didn’t know the Norfolk Regiment was where most of our lads went to war with.
- If we were voted to top spot then we could work with other partners and businesses in town, and perhaps even create a programme.
The choice is literally yours to make.
The three organisations in the January/February vote are all worthy of your blue Tesco token, but please put your token in the Brandon Heritage Centre box if you would like to contribute to Brandon’s Armistice centenary events in November 2018.