Bridging Arts volunteer Valerie Griggs was delighted to make a surprise contact with the granddaughter of a Belgian World War One refugee at the weekend.Valerie has worked with us since 2014 on Heart of Conflict.
On Saturday, she was displaying her collection of World War One memorabilia in at a Spring Fayre in Pool, Cornwall, and happened to meet the granddaughter of Marguerite Kesteloot, a Belgian refugee who came to Calstock in north Cornwall in 1915.
Marguerite's story is featured in 100 Faces 100 Stories, a Heritage Lottery funded project involving the Cornish Archives Network, the Cornwall Museum group and Penryn Museum.
She was one of more than 250,000 Belgian refugees who fled to Britain during the war.
She stayed on, marrying Richard Preston, a market gardener in Calstock.
Dr Joanna Mattingly, who spearheaded the project, is giving a talk about it this coming Wednesday (22 April) at St Day Village Hall at 730pm.
