Welcome to the Village Link website. We’re a small not for profit organisation staffed by volunteers and cannot justify the expense of an SSL certificate. This certificate is what changes a web address from http to https. Google will soon change how they label sites; instead of labelling sites with a certificate as secure they will label sites without one as insecure. We keep this site as secure as we can and is as secure as it ever has been. Please do not be put off!

Take a little time to browse our pages and discover what goes on where and when in our area. Within our pages you can also find out who does what locally. If you would like to contribute anything to any of our pages, including your favourite picture from where you live in our area, please follow the links on the Contact Us page. We would love to carry all the info for your local club or association and best of all, it’s all for free!

The map on the left is fully navigable plus you can zoom in and out by using the controls in the top left corner and if you view the larger map you can enter street view by dragging the little yellow person onto the map to where you want to view and go for a virtual walk around our streets and lanes.

HONOURING THEIR SACRIFICE ON VJ  DAY

To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day on 15th August 2025, an evening of entertainment, memories and reflections was held in Guilsborough Village Hall, hosted by the local branch of the Royal British Legion with support from GMADs, the Guilsborough Historical Society and Collin's Fresh Produce.

After VE day on the 8th May, British, Commonwealth and Allied Forces continued bitter fighting in the Far east, finally achieving a surrender following the dropping of the Atom Bomb. The men who fought and died were referred to as the Forgotten Army. The RBL resolved not to forget them. A packed Village Hall was treated to an American themed barbeque with burgers and hot dogs in tribute to our American Allies.

The GMADs' presentation, arranged by Pam Townsend, included harrowing images taken by an Australian POW with a hidden camera. There were also drawings and cartoons depicting the plight of the POWS by Ronald Searle and Les Rawlings. These men put themselves at great risk to capture these images and keep them hidden.

We heard from residents of Guilsborough, Pauline Jacobs and Jane Neil, whose fathers were both taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore and forced to work on the Burma Railway. They suffered physical maltreatment, deprived of food and medicine, which left physical and emotional scars which they carried with them for the rest of their lives.

We also heard from Lynn Furnell whose father was a Royal Marine who sailed to the Pacific in 1945 to bring back POWs, a journey which took 6 weeks in those days.

Janet Minnie, another resident of Guilsborough, also had a father in The Royal Marines, who also travelled to the Far East on a similar mission. David O’Neil has produced a leaflet, on behalf of and available from the Guilsborough Historical Society, outlining the major events and key dates of the war in The Far East.

Maggie Burgess gave a very moving tribute to Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart, who made the trip to Burma to entertain the troops. Her singing, accompanied by Jim Carroll, captured the complex emotions of the final end to the war, the suffering and sacrifices made by so many.

The aim of the Royal British Legion is to remember and honour that sacrifice.

Lynn Furnell at the National Memorial Arboretum by the memorial of the Burma Star Soldiers. Her father John Pettit received this medal.

The plaque at the Arboretum on a tree planted in memory of Arthur Poole, Pauline Jacob's father.

Gill Douglas and Bruce Teggart  in uniforms of the day.

PEAKING IN RETIREMENT!

Even though you have retired, there are still mountains to climb.

Not satisfied with golf or gardening, four retired Guilsborough men picked up their rucksacks, donned their Bridgedale socks and set out to climb the World’s highest free-standing mountain.

Mark Brennan, Ian Dalzell, Jonathan Evans and Simon King formed part of a team of eight friends who journeyed to Tanzania to scale Mount Kilimanjaro which, at almost 6,000 metres, is also the highest peak on the African continent.

The trekkers were supported by local guides and porters who helped them acclimatise to the oxygen depleted air and navigate their way through several different climatic zones as they walked for eight days on their way to the summit.

“The main part of the trek was relatively straight-forward”, said Simon, “but the real challenge was the final 1,000 metres which we began just after midnight on ‘summit day’. We climbed through the darkness with only head torches to guide us. The thin air meant that it was a real effort just to walk.”

Reaching the top however appears to have been its own reward as the team were treated to spectacular views from above the clouds of the sun rising across East Africa (see colour photo on front page). And now it’s back to golf and gardening….until the next adventure.

Fluttering By  It has seemed to be a good year for butterflies and there have been lots like this Comma, to see. However, impressions are often false and although the numbers are up on last year the results from the Big Butterfly Count show “it was definitely not a bumper year summer”.