Towards the end of February you were kind enough to publish a letter from me seeking information that would enable me to trace more descendants of Sparsholt College students who were killed during the Second World War. 

By the time the history of the college, A Place of Transformation, was published last October, I knew of just one family, with whom it had been a privilege to spend a fascinating and moving afternoon.

Helpful responses to my letter from your readers have enabled me to make contact with four more families and to identify another former student who was killed, but not recorded in minutes of college meetings. 

Plans are now being finalised, albeit 80 or so years after their deaths, to provide for the first time a memorial bench with a suitably worded plaque giving details of seven students who were killed in the service of their country - they were all between 22 and 25 years of age. 

It is hoped that their descendants will be able to meet together during the summer to remember again the sacrifices of their ancestors.

My email address jandplander@btinternet.com.

John Lander,
Gravel Lane, 
Barton Stacey

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