The Great War of 1914–18 resulted in the loss of almost 900,000 of Britain’s men. Every city, town and village suffered casualties. Well, not quite every village. Historians reckon 53 settlements in England (none in Scotland or Ireland, as it happens) saw all their men return.
Of these ‘thankful villages’, as they’ve been dubbed, five are in Yorkshire: Catwick, Cundall, Norton-le-Clay, Helperthorpe and Scruton. Riding to each of these from York will, I thought, make a nice series of rides. So on this lovely sunny early-spring day I cycled to Helperthorpe, halfway to Bridlington.
Helperthorpe is one of a series of villages along the ‘valley’ of the elusive Gypsey Race, an enigmatic part-time chalk stream that flows, and often doesn’t, from Duggleby to Bridlington harbour. And there’s not much in the village itself: neighbouring Weaverthorpe has two, but you won’t find a pint, or indeed a shop, in Helperthorpe. And the Race was dry on my visit, as it usually is here.
Weaverthorpe also, like almost all villages in Britain, has a memorial to those inhabitants killed in the Great War. Helperthorpe, obviously, doesn’t. Its ‘thankful’ status isn’t even mentioned on the little information board in the green.
However, there’s a couple of plaques and memorials inside St Peter’s Church. It lists all 18 villagers who went to war; all came back, though as the list notes, one was captured, one was wounded, two were gassed, and one was gassed and wounded. Only limited thankfulness, then.
