FOUR Notts villages have taken part in a historic charity event to remember the dead of the First World War.
The Thankful Villages Run is a nine-day charity motorbike ride to 51 villages where all the men who left to fight in the Great War were lucky enough to return home.
They have no traditional war memorial so yesterday Dougie Bancroft and Medwyn Parry – the bikers behind the ride – presented commemorative slate plaques to Wysall, Maplebeck, Cromwell and Wigsley.
The bikers also aim to collect £51,000 in aid of the Royal British Legion on their tour.
Triumph Motorcycles, of Hinckley, Leicestershire, donated two bikes for Dougie and Medwyn to ride during their 2,500-mile journey.
Guy Masters, general manager of Triumph UK, said he was proud to be supporting the riders.
He said: "The Thankful Villages story is one that not many people are aware of, and hopefully this project will do a great deal to help rectify this.
"We owe a huge debt of gratitude, not only to those that took part in the First World War, but also to those that have made similar sacrifices in subsequent conflicts."
Triumph, which was first established in 1902, has a special reason to support the Thankful Village Run as it supplied more than 30,000 motorcycles to the Allied forces in the First World War.
David Roberts, chairman of Wysall and Thorpe-in- the-Glebe parish council, said: "We got a display board made and mounted in front of the village hall about us being a Thankful Village, and we only had one lad killed in the Second World War.
"Everybody came back from the First World War and they were given a silver medal.
"We've got a small memorial in the church but we don't have a war memorial like lots of other villages, because we didn't have any that died."
Incredibly, 14 of the 51 'Thankful Villages' are 'Double Thankful', where everybody also returned from the Second World War.
David Roger Swift, of Cromwell Parish Meeting, said: "It is fortunate this village suffered no loss and I am very happy this is a Thankful Village. It is something that should be remembered."
Mr Bancroft said: "Both Medwyn and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of Triumph and all our other sponsors. The incredible support and assistance Triumph has shown us has enabled us to concentrate on the important job of speaking to the villages to ensure we can raise our target of £51,000 for the Royal British Legion."
The journey began at Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, near Aberystwyth, on July 27, and will finish there on Sunday, August 4.
