Thame Players Remember

ONE of the greatest war plays ever written opened on Tuesday this week at The Players Theatre in Nelson Street, Thame. The play, Journey’s End, written in 1928 by English playwright R C Sherriff, is set in the trenches near St-Quentin, Aisne in the days building up to the major German offensive of March 21, 1918. This offensive was intended to separate the British and French Armies, push the British back to the sea, and seize the Channel Ports.

Collaborating with this production is Thame Remembers, a charity set up to commemorate the centenary of World War One by researching all the names on Thame War Memorials, for all conflicts, and discover more about their lives. Thame Remembers, which was set up with Heritage Lottery Funding in 2014, aims to identify the location of each grave or memorial and place a ‘Thame Remembers’ cross on each resting place, wherever in the world that may be.

There is a close link between the timing of the play and the lives of men from Thame who were caught up in the conflict at the time. As Mike Dyer of Thame Remembers explained: “Journey’s End is set in the days before the start of the German offensive of March 21, 1918. Just two days after it began, on March 23, two men from Thame, both members of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, lost their lives in the fighting at St Quentin.

“Sergeant Hugh Kidman was an ex-pupil at Lord Williams’s Grammar School and worked on his parents’ farm at Waterstock. He was reported wounded and missing on March 23, and died seven days later, aged 28, in a German field hospital. He is buried in the military cemetery at Maubeuge in France. Corporal Ralph Line, the son of a butcher, lived at 24 Upper High Street, Thame, working as a warehouseman at Pursers in Thame. He married Sarah Humphris at St Mary’s Church in November 1917, aged 30, but was killed in action on March 23, 1918. He is buried at Chauny Communal Cemetery, Aisne, France.

“Both men will be commemorated by the laying of a cross at their graves during the Thame Remembers project.”

Members of the cast in the Thame Players’ production have their own family memories of those caught up in the First World War. Mike Rochford, who plays 2nd Lieutenant Trotter, recalled: “Both my grandfathers fought in the First World War. My maternal grandfather was a radio operator on a minesweeper, taking part in the Battle of Jutland. My paternal grandfather was a fighter pilot who was shot down and captured. Happily, both survived the war. The most illustrious Rochford was my great uncle, Squadron Leader Leonard Henry (‘Tich’) Rochford, DSC & Bar and DFC. He attempted joining up at the start of the war but was rejected as too young. So he obtained a pilot’s licence and joined the Royal Naval Air Service once he was old enough. He was credited with downing 29 enemy aircraft, placing him in the top 15 of British Aces. He survived the First World War and signed up again in the Second World War, when he was stationed at RAF Halton.’”
Adam Hurst, who plays 2nd Lieutenant Hibbert, also has a story to tell: “The story, long held in our family, is that I owe my life to a can of corned beef. My grandfather, Henry Hurst, served in the First World War and was in the front line in the trenches. One morning, he and four of his comrades were in the trenches keeping watch. As my grandfather bent down to pick up and open a tin of corned beef, a stray shell from the Germans landed in the trench. All his fellow soldiers were killed, but he survived with just a few minor scratches.”

Journey’s End continues at The Players Theatre until Saturday, September 12. Tickets cost £9, concessions £8 and are available from Spear Travels, Greyhound Walk, Thame, telephone 01844 217228 or from our website www.thameplayers.co.uk (booking fee applies).