Thetford Past And Present

Past & Present

Saturday 4th December is the centenary of the unveiling of Thetford’s War Memorial. Each year the memorial is the focus for the town’s Remembrance Sunday service, drawing a large crowd now as in previous years. Little of the architecture surrounding the market place has changed since the past photo was taken. Past Image: David Osborne Collection NMS, Present Photo: ©Neil James Media

Probus Club members heard a talk from Jim Stebbings of the Dereham Club, telling the story of the Lusitania, known to those who knew and loved her as ‘Lucy’. He called his talk “Lies, Deception and Conspiracy”. The Royal Mail Ship Lusitania was launched in 1906 during the arms race between Germany and Britain, her construction being funded by a loan from the Admiralty who demanded alterations in her design to allow for wartime service, although she was never armed. She was designed to be luxurious and fast, to enable Cunard to capture transatlantic trade from German competition and in she riefl held the lue i and for the fastest crossing, taking less than 5 days. When she left New York for Liverpool on her 202nd crossing in May 1915, German ports were under Allied blockade and as a reprisal U-boats were patrolling the waters around Britain with orders to sink shi s showing ritish flags ro ided the were carrying arms. Southwest of Ireland she was attacked and torpedoed without being searched and sank in 20 minutes, 1198 people dying. There were aspects of the whole incident which led to people questioning the actions of Winston

Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, who was tr ing to get the to oin the fight against erman should she ha e sailed in the first place? She was faster than any U-boat, so why did she travel at reduced speed? Why did no escort arrive to accompany her through the U-boat zone? Was this a contrived propaganda incident? An interesting and thought-provoking talk. MCP HP Advert 11.18.qxp_Layout 1 19/11/2018 09:41 Page 1

Pictured: RMS Lusitania January 2022 Deadline The deadline for inclusion within the January edition of About Thetford is the 10th December - a little earlier due to the Christmas break. Send all content to: aboutthetfordmagazine@googlemail.com

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