MALVERN Help for Heroes held a special dinner at Worcestershire Golf Club to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The 69 guests attending included Sir Tony Baldry, MP for North Oxfordshire and his wife Lady Pippa, and Lieutenant General Timothy Evans, commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, which is based in Gloucester.

Guests were informed and entertained by three presentations on different aspects of the First World War. David Craig, who lives at Clevelode and is a regular speaker at Malvern events, talked about the outbreak of the war in political and military terms, while Patrick Kidwell from the Defence Academy spoke about the ups and downs of the British Army preparing the US Expeditionary Force for entry into the war in 1917. Then Chantel Summerfield from Malvern and in the final year of her PhD in 20th Century conflict archaeology and anthropology at the University of Bristol, gave a presentation on the use of tree carvings by WW1 veterans to represent their recollections of combat.

The dinner raised £1,740 for Help for Heroes, which will go directly to supporting the rehabilitation of injured service men and women. Organiser Tim Kidwell said: "Metcalfe catering was hugely generous in providing excellent catering at very much reduced rates while Deep Secure and QinetiQ both provided sponsorship. Worcestershire Golf Club captain Roger Brierly has adopted Help for Heroes as his charity of the year and waived the usual fees for the venue hire. Severn Printing and Helen Kidwell Graphics contributed the printing and design of the tickets and programmes."

Malvern Help for Heroes is holding its Malvern Hills Challenge on Saturday, September 13 (information at events4h4h.org.uk) and is planning another dinner next year to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.