REMEMBRANCE 2018 'Never Good Bye' by Roy Peacock

‘Remembrance 2018, Never Good Bye’ remembers the lost men of the communities that make up present-day Dudley MB and the memorials established to honour them.

The book follows the sequence of the war and is based on fifty short accounts of service-men who for the most part served in their local regiments (now merged into The Mercian Regiment - The Heart of England’s Infantry). War memorials feature strongly and include both outdoor memorials and those in churches, chapels, clubs and factories. The range of materials and design makes each unique. Commonwealth war grave commemorations are also included, as these were often the sole contribution of the grieving families of 1918. Many, of course, could not really celebrate when fathers had been lost and children had become orphans. ‘Never Good Bye’ is on the grave of Lt. Roland Leighton of the Worcestershire Regiment, the epitome of Great War loss and literature. He served with the Territorials and the three words are still appropriate after a century.

The book is A4 in size and includes over a hundred pages, together with a hundred photos, mainly in colour, which contribute strongly to this souvenir of local Remembrance.