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With the Reverend J. Martin, vicar of the parish, presiding, there was a large attendance at a patriotic meeting held in the Village Institute on Friday, October 30th 1914. This took place in the evening, and for the previous quarter of an hour two pipers of the Seaforth Highlanders had enlivened the village street with stirring music. Mr. J. Irvine Boswell, who was leaving for France on the following Wednesday, for duties with the Red Cross, was amongst those present, and on rising to speak he was loudly cheered. He said there was the need to strongly reinforce the Army, and at the close of his address as pianist Mr. W. Wooding played the National Anthems of the Allies, after which the whole company sang ‘It‘s a long way to Tipperary.’ Mr. Frank Wildman, who had expressed his intention to volunteer for the Army, was then invited to the platform, and Mr. Boswell took off his own gold watch and presented it to him. Having during the day enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery, William Hobbs was also asked to come forward, and the proceedings closed with the singing of the National Anthem.

(William Hobbs joined his regiment at Yarmouth on the following Monday, and on the Wednesday having passed his medicals Frank Wildman proceeded to the same destination.)

In 1915, on the anniversary of the declaration of war a meeting was held in the Village Institute, at which a resolution was passed expressing; ‘That on this anniversary of a righteous war, this meeting records its inflexible determination to continue to a victorious end the struggle to maintain that ideal of Liberty and Justice which is the common and sacred cause of the Allies.’

A meeting of the subscribers to the Belgian Fund was held on Wednesday, August 4th 1915 in the Village Institute, where Mrs. Martin stated that the funds included Hardmead, £9 2s, and Astwood, £11 1s 2d. The vicar then thanked the collectors who had gathered the weekly collections, and also the friends who had given regularly and willingly. The reward was the altered appearance of the Belgians, who, having arrived poor and destitute, went away well clothed and cared for after their pleasant sojourn in Mr. Wooding’s farmhouse. In fact several letters had been received from them since their departure.

On Sunday, July 16th 1916, after the evening service the vicar, the Reverend J. Martin, made the presentation of an inlaid oak writing table to Charles Flute. He had been the parish clerk and sexton for 22 years, but had retired recently due to increasing infirmity. Occupying the same cottage for 45 years, he had lived in the parish all his life, but his two sons had emigrated to Australia some years ago. Both had enlisted in the army on the outbreak of war, with one being subsequently wounded at the Dardanelles, and the other sent back to Australia.

At Christmas 1916, as a result of a meeting at Astwood Vicarage a committee of ladies was formed to promote a Soldiers’ Christmas Presents Fund for Astwood and Hardmead. Towards the monies, £13 7s 6d had been raised at an auction sale held in the Village Institute on the evening of Wednesday, November 29th.

A concert was held in the Village Institute on Tuesday evening, August 28th 1917 for the Red Cross Fund. Alistair Easson, a son of the Reverend Easson, of Chicheley, presided, and the humorous contributions by the Misses Eassons and friends were much enjoyed. Amongst the other performers, Private Williamson sang several amusing songs, and Mr. W. Wooding and Master Leslie Wilding played piano duets. The £5 5s raised by the event was a record.

(Aged 23, in the early hours of Monday, February 19th 1923 Alastair James Utten Easson, the eldest son of the Reverend U.J. and Mrs. Easson, of Chicheley Vicarage, died in a Bedford nursing home. He was educated at Lancing College and Jesus College, Cambridge, and in preparing for a ministerial career had been studying at St. Boniface Theological College, Warminster. On February 3rd appendix trouble necessitated an operation, after which he went to a Bedford nursing home. However, three other operations had to be performed, and complications unfortunately set in. Very popular in the village he had been a keen sportsman, and joined with the youth of the village in cricket, football, etc. The body, brought from Bedford the previous day, laid in the chancel overnight, and with a Requiem Mass in the morning his father conducted the funeral on Thursday afternoon, February 22nd. Including many notables almost all the village was present, plus the household staff of the vicarage, but his brother, Laurence, was so overcome with grief that he could not attend.)

On the evening of Tuesday, October 30th 1917 an auction was held in the Village Institute, this being to raise funds for Christmas gifts for the soldiers serving from Astwood and Hardmead. Throughout the day offerings had been received from the villagers, and with Arthur Franklin and James Munday as the auctioneers £17 was raised, plus £8 4s 1d in subscriptions.

On Peace Day, Saturday 19th 1919, the returned soldiers of the village were given a dinner at 1p.m. and at 4p.m. All the children were entertained to tea by Mrs. Martin, and in the evening a programme of sports was held.

With Mr. W. Carlile as chairman, at Newport Pagnell Police Court, on Monday, January 16th 1922 Frank Wildman, an ex soldier, and small holder of Hardmead, was charged with having threatened to murder Arthur Brown, a farm manager, at Astwood on January 9th 1922. However, at the beginning of the hearing the prosecutor asked if the charge could be reduced to one of threats, since although Mr. Brown wanted protection he was not vindictive, and just required an assurance that no further threats would be made. He understood that the man had shell shock and had been wounded, and the defendant was quite prepared to go into a proper home or institution for soldiers for treatment. The chairman said that he understood the man had been gassed, whilst as for the offence, this was a somewhat trivial matter which involved him having been told not to fetch water from a certain place. The response of the accused had been to say “I have killed a good number of Germans, and I’ll find out who is the white man of the two of us. I shall serve you the same some night.” Since his brother in law, a bricklayer living at Stagsden, would stand surety, he was given bail, and expressed himself willing to hand his gun and cartridges to the police. The case was then adjourned until the next sessions, with the chairman saying that he would do his best to get the man into an institution, to receive proper treatment for his neurasthenia. Subsequently at the Newport Pagnell Divisional Petty Sessions on Wednesday, February 1st 1922, Walter Carlile told the defendant that the Bench had taken an interest in the case, and had been able to get permission for him to enter Lord Kitchener’s Home at Lowestoft, where he would have a good rest cure. But he would have to enter into recognisances again, and for a longer period, since after his stay at the convalescent home an application would be made for him to go to another home for two months, for further treatment for shell shock. The defendant duly agreed, and the chairman said that the Bench had made arrangements for his wife and family to be provided for in his absence. He was then bound over in sum of £10 for good behaviour for six months, with his brother in law providing surety in the same amount.