New issue of the Bulletin and new editor

The latest edition of the Bulletin, the members’ magazine of The WFA, has been issued under the guardianship of new editor Dr Martin Purdy.

The publication includes a special eight-page section on the sacrifices of the men of the small pacific island of Niue, who The WFA helped honour for the first time on the international stage at the annual remembrance event at the Cenotaph on November 11. There are also general images and stories from this key event on the Association’s calendar, as well as the compelling reflections of schoolchildren who were invited to lay wreaths.

In addition to updates on WFA activities at international, national and regional levels, Bulletin 130 finds room for such new features as veteran reminiscences from the publication’s archive, a guide to a Great War-related day out on British shores, the story behind a treasured object from the conflict, an appeal for help in reuniting battlefield relics from Flanders with living descendants and much more besides. 

Members can access the latest Bulletin and all back issues in the Searchable Magazine Archive.

Dr Purdy, who replaces former editor Ralph Lomas, said:

“I would like to put on record the gratitude of myself and so many others to Ralph who has been a committed and enthusiastic overseer of this publication for many years. Thank you so much Ralph.

“For myself, as a member of the Association for more than two decades, I am really excited about having the opportunity to help shape the future of the Bulletin and explore new ways to celebrate and utilise the enviable multi-media platforms The WFA has so successfully established alongside its impressive archive of research and recollection.”

Martin is a respected historian who has spent most of his career working in newspapers and magazines. He has co-authored two books on the Great War – Doing Our Bit and The Gallipoli Oak - and had numerous articles published in highly respected academic collections on such subjects as military chaplaincy, class prejudice and the British Army, and war disability and philanthropy. He regularly works as a freelance for the Imperial War Museum and is the lead historian at the Westfield War Memorial Village Lancaster.