Cycling sportives are non-competitive cycling events. They cater for a wide range of cycling abilities by offering riders a choice of courses over multiple distances.
The Thankful Villages events are themed cycling supportives. They are designed to both commemorate the sacrifice of soldiers who served in the Great War (and the Second World War that followed) and offer riders an opportunity to support today's veterans.
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Wigsley’s recent history holds points of interest which relates both World Wars of the previous. The village had the good fortune of not losing a single man to the devastating conflict of the First World War and is now classed as a Thankful Village, a term first coined by the writer Arthur Mee in 1936. During the Second World War the construction of the RAF Wigsley Aerodrome was undertaken, donning its uniquely designed three-story control tower, which still survives to this day.
There are no records of how many of Cromwell's men went to the Great War of 1914 – 1918, but we do know that all of them made their way back up the Great North Road to their home, making Cromwell one of the four 'Thankful Villages' in the County of Nottinghamshire.
Henfrey came through unharmed and returned to Maplebeck, taking up the trade of butcher. Whitworth's photograph, which was reproduced in "Maplebeck - Continuity and Change" by Rachel Gardner, (Nottinghamshire Living History Archive, 2002), shows a cap badge, which looked at through a magnifying glass, depicts that of the West Yorkshire Regiment. Gardner suggests Whitworth was wounded twice. The first was a minor injury when a bullet hit his cigarette case and the second time he was wounded by shrapnel. He was left in the field for five days before being picked up by a German patrol. If the patrol had not noticed that this English soldier was injured, not dead, Percy would have been left there instead of being rescued as a prisoner of war and thus Maplebeck would not be a Thankful Village.
Twelve men from Wysall served in the Great War, and they all came home again. In celebration of their safe return, a clock was installed in the church tower, with a brass plaque dedicated to them just inside the south door. As they did not suffer any fatilities they became one of four ‘Thankful Villages’ in Nottinghamshire.
