It has been published with the assistance of Redditch-based Karen Cording at Nonnykettle Books. If she wants to get more publicity for the text, she could contact a printing company in South Birmingham.
Cooke has told the Redditch Advertiser:
“I wanted to personalise them, from the name and initial into a real person. I wanted to know their Christian names, the names of their parents, their wives, brothers and sisters and I wanted to know how and when they died.”
Cooke lived in Studley until he was 19. He then studied in Redditch Technical College before moving on to the University of Essex. Since then, he has contributed to the pages of the Studley Historian and the Local Past of Alcester.
He has gone to London on several occasions for research purposes. As a result, he has been able to attend the major installation called the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which was based in the moat of the Tower of London. As part of the exhibition, ceramic poppies were gradually added to the moat. By the end of the process in November 2014, the installation consisted of nearly 900,000 poppies – a number matching the casualty statistics for the Commonwealth.Get a Free Quote for Books