BRIDGWATER residents are being given the chance to find out more about Bridgwater in the First World War.
The chairman of Bridgwater and District Civic Society is giving a talk on what Bridgwater was like 100 years ago.
He will be discussing the period from 1910 to 1920, the impact of the war and how it affected the town.
Mr Chapple said: "The whole decade from 1910 to 1920, not just the traumatic war years, was so important to how the Bridgwater developed in the 20th century.
"Looking back, it seems a decade to escape from; full of death, official savagery and popular misery.
"Shipping was in serious decline, brick yards were on short time.
"Soup kitchens, farm workers and factory workers were living on seven shillings a week, while there were an endless procession of tramps in and out of the magistrates court and workhouse."
Mr Chapple said the increasing casualty toll of the Somerset Light Infantry in France was wrecking the homes and families of the bereaved.
"However there were signs of survival, hope and a better future. Come along to the talk to find out what they were."
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