A FASCINATING collection of previously unseen World War I photographs is to go on show in the New Forest.

They will be part of a special event to be held in the village of Boldre next month.

Two Royal Flying Corps trainees took hundreds of photographs while learning to fly at the New Forest airfield before leaving for the Western Front in 1915.

Family members learned of the May Bank Holiday plan to commemorate the arrival of the Flying Corps at East Boldre and passed the family albums to the organising committee.

Restoration and repair work has been carried out on the early 20th century prints and they will go on display together with other period photographs provided by local residents and the RAF Museum at Hendon. The whole exhibition will celebrate an important part of Hampshire’s military history.

The exhibition will be part of a busy programme of events based in and around East Boldre Village Hall from May 19-25.

On the opening three evenings a dramatisation called From Forest Field to Western Front will chronicle the steady impact the pilot training had on the tranquil forest village.

New Forest MP Dr Julian Lewis is to talk on the politics of World War one. There will be special services of Remembrance – for local schoolchildren on May 22 and for the village community on May 24.

Officers from 84 Squadron, the only remaining RAF squadron to have flown from the East Boldre airfield during World War I, will unveil a memorial crest and there will be a flying display of replica World War I aircraft on May 23.

The event committee is inviting volunteers to meet them at the East Boldre Village Hall on Saturday, April 18, between 3-5pm, or on Tuesday, April 21, from 5-7.30pm.

Programme details will be announced nearer the time but the latest information can be found at eastboldre.talktalk.net or by emailing michaelphusband@yahoo.co.uk

pilots training in the New Forest during the war.