Catching up with the news (from 1914)
One of my interests is Military History, and I have slowly been researching the story of 4th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the First World War. My grandfather was a member of this battalion, which consisted of territorials (part-time volunteers, somewhat similar to National Guard units in the US).
From my previous research I knew that the unit was at its annual summer camp when war broke out, and that most of the unit volunteered for service overseas almost immediately. I spent Friday at the A.N. Palmer Centre for Local Studies and Archives in Wrexham reading the microfilm archives of the Wrexham Advertiser from the Summer and Autumn of 1914. The paper carried reports of the battalion's return from camp, and their despatch first to Conwy, then Northampton before being sent to France in November 1914.
This was fascinating reading, the paper carried a sense of adventure mixed with foreboding, although at that time no-one really knew of the horrors which were to come before the survivors would return home.