[Cecil Harwood served in the British Armed Forces September 1914 - March 1917. His training included some months near the village of Thurston, Suffolk, before going to France in 1915]

At weekends most of us would go to the small town of Thurston. It was a good round trip of [walking] 10 miles and being Sunday all shops were closed, but there was one bright spot, there the Salvation Army played, and it was surprising the number of folk who gathered there. The playing lasted about an hour and then they marched off to their Meeting House and we as troops were invited to join them. Out of curiosity we did join them. There were the usual prayers and exhortations and a general get together. It wasn’t our last visit to their hall, as one Sunday we arrived and with us was a new chap who had just joined our company and it appears he was a drummer with the S.A. in Hertford. It was sheer coincidence the S.A. group were making an appeal for a new drummer. This new chap, known as Tubby Pearson, volunteered to take over. He could not promise to do it every Sunday, but the next time we went there he joined with them. So we went again and for several week-ends.