EVEN while the First World War was still raging, many people were looking at how nations could work in peace and harmony rather than solve disputes with aggression.

As a result of a growing anti-war movement, British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour set up a commission to look at the idea of an international organisation for co-operation. With promotion by Lord Robert Cecil, South African leader Jan Smuts and support from American President Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations had its first meeting in January, 1920.

Britons who supported the ideals of the league flocked to meetings to hear about the initiative. One such gathering in December 1920 by Mr WJ Benney was hosted by Petersfield Literary and Debating Society.

At the meeting were representatives from Bedales School, St Peter’s Church and business people. Within a few weeks, the chairmen of both Petersfield’s urban and rural district councils had called a meeting to consider a proposal to ‘adopt’ a village close to the Franco-Belgian border, which was one of many communities devastated by the fighting.

Colonel Joseph Baxendale and Major Algernon Bonham Carter persuaded the audience that doing comparatively little was better than doing nothing.

Colonel Baxendale knew the small village of Noreuil, south-east of Arras, about 100km from Calais, because he had been wounded fighting there with the 15th Hampshire Regiment in March 1918. Later that spring it was the site of fierce battles involving an Australian battalion.

The colonel lived at Froxfield Green and he said Noreuil was of similar size, with just two or three farms and a few houses. After the wartime destruction, about ten families, comprising 60 men, 65 women and 25 children were living in shelters and Nissen huts.

The people of Petersfield responded to the appeal by the former Army officers, a small committee was formed to co-ordinate efforts and a collection at the meeting resulted in more than £60 being donated and gifts being promised.

In May, 1921, The Hants and Sussex News printed a translation of a letter from the Mayor of Noreuil, saying the first goods from Petersfield had arrived. These were oats, potatoes, tools, cooking utensils, a washstand, a butter churn, linen and children’s clothing.

The Rector of Buriton, the Rev Henry Davies, went to Noreuil two months later and returned with a list of new requirements, including fruit trees, livestock and more agricultural implements.

By October, further consignments of gifts, including small sticks for teaching arithmetic at the school, were received and he reported there was an air of cheerfulness and perseverance in the village.

The following year, Mr Davies said more than half of the French village houses had been rebuilt in brick.

Meanwhile, in Petersfield, the first council housing specifically intended for ex-Servicemen was built in Noreuil Road.