A group of students on the Uniformed Services Course at Fareham Tertiary College have volunteered, for the rest of the academic year,  to carry out work in Ann’s Hill Cemetery, Gosport.

Thirteen students made their first visit on 16 March when the group removed two semi-mature Turkish Hazel trees and replaced them with two Fagus Sylvatica, donated by the college.

The students were supervised throughout the project by college tutors and Commission staff and CWGC Regional Supervisor Carl Liversage spoke highly of their efforts. “The students were very enthusiastic and demonstrated drive and determination throughout and there were smiles all round as the tasks were completed on time.”

Thanks to Matt Bull, Gosport Borough Council for the photograph.

The Friends of Newark Cemetery will be holding a Family History Day on Saturday 14 April 2012 from 10am until 4pm at Newark Upon-Trent-Cemetery, Nottinghamshire.

During the day, the Chapel  Interpretation Centre, at Newark Cemetery, will  be open, providing an opportunity for visitors to participate in historical research.

Local family research specialists will be on hand to offer assistance to members of the public, in addition to staff from Newark Town Council, who will be available to assist with more local enquiries.

Commission staff will be available to talk to visitors about our role at Newark Cemetery, and visitors will also be able to access our database.

In this month's Battle of the Month feature, we look at the Battle of Arras which took began on Easter Sunday, 9 April lasting until 16 May 1917. 

In light of the recent film 'War Horse' this article refers particularly to one of the relatively few cavalry actions in the First World War which took place during this battle.

Thanks to the Western Front Association (WFA) for providing this article. The WFA is a registered charity dedicated to perpetuating the memory of those who served in the First World War.

For further information about the WFA and on how to join the Western Front Association  please visit their website>>

Click the Read More button for the full battle feature

The photograph shown is of Gouy-en-Artois Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Probably the most significant development in the history of competitive swimming was the invention of the "Australian crawl", or “front crawl” as it is known today.

The crawl is regarded as the fastest of the swimming strokes, but when it was first used, most swimmers had not perfected their  breathing technique – so it was only effective over short distances. Cecil Healy is credited with developing the action of breathing to the sides. This was an important innovation and meant the swimmer could develop a continuous stroke for swimming over long distances.

Cecil first represented Australia in the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens where his brother also competed.  He won a bronze medal in the 100 metres freestyle. Six years later, Cecil went one better winning a silver medal in Stockholm.

When war broke out, Cecil joined the Australian Infantry.  He was killed in 1918 at the age of 34 and is buried in Assevillers New British Cemetery, France.

As we continue our monthly walk-though of countries where the Commission has a commitment, we reach G for a second time.

This month we feature Gibraltar, where the Commission commemorates over 750 servicemen and women from the First and Second World War.

Overall administrative responsibility for the war graves and memorials in Gibraltar rests with the Director of the Commission’s Western Mediterranean Area, who is based in Rome.

The photograph shown above is from the Commission's Archives and was taken at the unveiling of the Gibraltar Memorial in 1923.

We often receive feedback from our readers, providing us with a personal insight into the lives of some of those servicemen and women commemorated by the Commission.  This month we feature an article written by Julie Hancock about her great-uncle, Arthur John Anthony who died in France aged 19 just before the end of the First World War. 

Julie says it was through the Commission that she was able to find out so much about him, having only become aware of his existence when she came across some letters he had written to her grandmother.

Private Anthony is commemorated at Metz-en Couture Communal Cemetery British Extension.