PREPARATIONS for Knutsford Promenades 2015 are currently underway and organisers are seeking war-stories – old and new – to serve as its inspiration.

The theme for next year’s event is ‘Texts from the Front’ and organisers are keen for current and former members of the Armed Forces and Peace Keeping Corps to share their stories of serving from 1960s onwards.

For anyone who is interested in sharing their story, the promenades team will be running a ‘drop in’ cafe at the Knutsford Library on Thursday October 23 from 4pm to 7pm.

Promenades co-organiser Julie Tempest said: “Whilst the focus has been on collecting memories relating to World War One and World War Two, which will form a part of next year’s promenades, we are keen to collect more recent stories to create and inspire the performances which will comprise the 2015 event.

“We are looking for servicemen and servicewomen who served, for instance, during the Falklands War, the Gulf War, or were in the Army during the conflict in Northern Ireland; people who have worked in peace-keeping abroad, such as Cyprus; and people who have lived in an area affected by wars and military conflict; to share their stories with us.”

One Knutsford resident who is happy to share her stories of life as an Army wife in Germany in the 1960s is Val Dawson.

“We were an Army family from 1962 to the mid 1980s and both my sons were born in British Military Hospitals in Germany,” said Val.

“In 1968 we travelled through Germany to Berlin in the sealed military train with armed guards, which was daunting but quite exciting. Visiting Checkpoint Charlie and seeing the Berlin Wall was very emotional.

“Being stationed abroad at that time was very different – there was no internet so we’d have to write letters, and if we wanted to make a phone call we had to book a time.”

Val will be sharing more of her memories of that time, including her 1975 visit to Berlin when Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess had been moved to the British Military Hospital, where she and her family were visiting military personnel, at the drop in cafe later this month.

For more information about the drop in cafe, or to sign up for newsletters in the build up to the main event on July 4 2015, visit knutsfordpromenades.co.uk