Probus Talk – Your Country Needs You

The guest speaker this month was Graham Twemlow, a local arts historian. He presented his talk entitled ‘Your country needs you – Propaganda Posters of World War 1 and World War 2.

Graham had gathered together a mass of materials about government communication in an era long before TV advertising and social media.  This included Lord Kitchener’s famous poster saying ‘your country needs you’ but most of the carefully assembled documents were new to members. It provided a fascinating social history at a time of national crisis.

This included not just recruitment to the forces, but minding the home front, guarding secrets and ‘digging for victory’. Graham showed how posters were developed to maximise their impact and appeal whilst not glorifying war or exposing the potential new recruits to all the horrors which lay in store.

New members are always welcome. See further information on the Club’s website.