When I started to read the local newspaper reports on the Boer war, I realised that I really didn′t know what it was all about, why it started or how it ended, so I began to read what I could. The first thing I learned was that it′s a huge subject and far more complex than I had thought. I decided that, just in case anyone wanted to know a bit more about the Boer War than I did when I started looking at this section, I would prcise all that I had read to give some idea as to what it was all about. It′s not meant to be a history lesson, just, hopefully, some helpful notes.
Hooe may have had some men volunteer to fight in this war but I have not found any, so far. The first mentions of Hooe and the problems of South Africa are in reports of other events such as meetings of the Primrose League. It′s obvious, from these reports, that the perception of what was happening in Africa was gained mainly, from what we call today, "spin". However, the feeling of pride in our country (right or wrong) can be felt though it seems alien, now, something we seem to feel ashamed of because we′ve lost all that to-day.
Several of the Newspaper cuttings have no dates (as yet!) because they came from my grandfather's scrapbooks and were undated. When I can, however, I'll find the dates and add them.
I really wanted to put images of these newspaper cuttings on my website, exactly as they were in the book, rather than transcriptions because, being kept in a scrapbook, protected from the light and any wear and tear, the cuttings were quite clear and in very good condition by comparison with any copies obtained from Bexhill Library, where they have to be printed from a film taken of the old newspaper with the, obvious, loss of quality. I decided it was, however, better to do a transcription for several reasons but mainly to allow searches to be carried out which would have been impossible to do with an image.
For those interested in Family History, most of these cuttings have many names of people from the village.
