Melksham’s wartime welcome captured in film

Residents can now watch a short film which shows crowds gathering in Melksham to welcome soldiers from the Wiltshire Regiment prior to the First World War, as part of a project bringing local history to life for rail passengers across the region.

The project features films accessible via QR codes displayed on posters at 24 stations across the region. Each station’s film explores the history of the local community. Although Melksham’s station does not display a QR code, the town’s film is available online.

The short film for Melksham also shares details of the small train station near Lacock, called Lacock Halt, which operated between 1905 and 1966.

The archive film project by Windrose Rural Media Trust is available on seven rail routes across Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset.

The project has been inspired by Great Western Approaches, a renowned film made in 1936 that took viewers on a journey to the sun.

Windrose director Trevor Bailey said, “Long ago, the Great Western Railway saw the film’s potential to promote its trains and the places they served. It has an extraordinary heritage and the modern GWR is proud to link past glories with today’s progress.

“By scanning a QR code, viewers can select the route and station of their choice and find themselves in the past life of that community. It may be a livestock market in the 1930s, daily street scenes in the 1910s, a long-closed railway line, seaside holidays in the 1950s and much, much more.

“These moving images are the nearest thing to living history that exists.”

To see all the films, visit

https://windroseruralmedia.org/great-western-approaches-revisited-westbury-to-swindon/.