Discover a wealth of history in the stories told by a wide range of Yeovil residents.

This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which Yeovil Cinemas has changed and developed over the last century.

A collection of shocking and surprising stories and events from the county of Somerset.

Many cultures accept that a person may die and then come back to life in another form, but Westerners have traditionally rejected the idea. Recently, however, surveys conducted in Europe indicate a substantial increase in the number of Europeans who believe in reincarnation, and numerous claims of reincarnation have been reported. This book examines particular cases in Europe that are suggestive of reincarnation. The first section provides a brief history of the belief in reincarnation among Europeans. The second section considers eight cases from the first third of the twentieth century that were not independently investigated, but were reported and sometimes published by the persons concerned. The third section covers 32 cases from the second half of the twentieth century that were investigated by the author. Many of these cases involved either children who exhibited unusual behavior attributed to a previous life, or adults who experienced recurrent or vivid dreams attributed to a previous life. In the fourth section, the author compares European cases suggestive of reincarnation with those of other countries and cultures.

‘Yes we were scared. It could be seen on the faces of the men. No food didn’t help. We stopped to suck pebbles during the day as our tongues began to swell through lack of water ... We had an order come through to us one day. Every man for himself. And then the soldiers – Belgian, French and British – were side by side in silent soddy ranks in columns, zig-zagged across the beaches. I still believe this was done to minimise casualties. We had to wade out up to our necks in water to get onto a boat, ducking under the water when the Germans tried to mow us down. Eventually I managed to grab a chain hanging off a Naval motorboat, and it was fully loaded but I hung on ...’ Arthur Thomas Gunn, Walsall Between 27 May and 4 June 1940 over 900 vessels rescued 338,226 people trapped at Dunkirk. Cut off by the advancing German Army hundreds of thousands of Allied troops gathered on the beaches – exhausted, hungry and scarred by war. Operation Dynamo saw British destroyers and the hundreds of ‘little ships’ bring these men safely back to England, where they were welcomed back by the locals with tea and sandwiches, and hailed as heroes. In We Remember Dunkirk we hear stories from the soldiers who made the perilous journey to Dunkirk and came under constant attack from Nazi aircraft as they boarded British ships and attempted to cross the Channel. But we also hear from the nurses who tended the many returning wounded; the young women who, along with the rest of their communities, rallied to make food and gather whatever they could to give the soldiers; and what it was like witnessing all this through a child’s eyes. Above all, we see how the solidarity of the British people gave rise to the unfailing ‘Dunkirk Spirit’.

A unique and charming look at the history of the Yeovil and its inhabitants.

‘an excellent read’ AEROSPACE magazine In 1915, Westland Aircraft Works was established in the country town of Yeovil. Since then, aircraft have been designed, manufactured and tested at Westland, including the Lysander, which was used to transport British agents to Europe during the Second World War. In 1948, the company focused solely on helicopters and its aircraft have been sent all over the world since then, used in life-saving with Air Ambulance and Search and Rescue, and deployed in warfare such as Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. In this new and updated edition of A Quiet Country Town, David Gibbings celebrates over 100 years of Westland through an anthology of writings that retell the company’s history and its special relationship with Yeovil, which has rarely been quiet since the first aircraft took off from the airfield that now lies at its heart.