Welcome to the Bulletin of the WW1 Reference Group

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1 Welcome to the Bulletin of the WW1 Reference Group Issue 2 September 2014 This bulletin is aimed at those with an interest in the WW1 research and Centenary activities of Leicestershire and Rutland and is a product of the WW1 Reference Group hosted by Leicestershire County Council (contact: Tim.Webster@leics.gov.uk). The WW1 Reference Group is chaired by Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Colonel R M L Colville, and its members include Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council, the University of Leicester, and representatives of the Royal British Legion, the East Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association and more. The Groups aims are to promote activities marking the Centenary of World War One. The bulletin is free and can be subscribed to by ing the editor at Remembrance100@leics.gov.uk You are invited to send us information on local events and projects for inclusion in future Bulletins. Thank you for reading.

2 New Armed Forces pages on Leicestershire County Council website The website now has a new section for Armed Forces content, located alongside civic and ceremonial pages. The pages can be accessed at Content currently includes: Armed Forces Community Covenant Links to the WW1 Centenary pages, War Memorials Project and Century of Stories project Our support to the veteran community A dedicated page to Armed Forces Day Information on Stand Easy A photograph gallery Links to a range of benevolent organisations A list of all Armed Forces units (Regular and Reserve) in the County

3 WW1 Reference Group Activity Update Marking the Centenary beginning On the 4 th August, we staged an event at Stand Easy involving a red balloon release. Stand Easy was framed by camouflage netting onto which we invited people to leave personal messages on luggage labels. Each of the Stand Easy figures had a suitcase at their side, symbolic of the journey that lay ahead, with each carrying its own luggage label and personal message of hope. A number of these messages were attached to the balloons for the release. WW1 Centenary Website A series of web pages dedicated to the centenary of WW1 has been developed in association with Leicestershire Promotions, and is being updated all the time. Free Tree Packs for Schools Through an initiative with the Woodland Trust, all schools in Leicester and Leicestershire have been offered free tree packs to create small commemorative woodlands. To date over 50 local schools have signed-up and there will be a further application round later in the year.

4 Lights Out Across Europe 4 th August 2014 To mark the start of the centenary commemorations, local authorities were encouraged to participate in the Lights Out initiative. The County Council did so and extinguished the lights at County Hall leaving a solitary light burning in the Members Lounge alongside an illuminated Stand Easy. A Service of Commemoration In partnership with the City Council we arranged a service at Leicester Cathedral with a number of guest readers from Radio Leicester (as well as County Councillor Peter Lewis). This was very well attended and we were able to make use of the Cathedral Gardens following the service for refreshments. A student from Loughborough High School read a poem she had written to mark the commemoration. Centenary Fields (A Fields in Trust initiative) We are currently in dialogue with the Bradgate Park Trust to dedicate a piece of woodland (recently donated by the City and County Councils) as a Centenary Woodland, to be secured in perpetuity in honour of those who lost their lives in WW1. Remembrance Day On Sunday 9 th November the Chairman will again join the Lord Mayor and Lord Lieutenant at the War Memorial in Victoria Park for Remembrance Sunday. Through our support to the Leicestershire Lieutenancy we will have Lieutenancy representation at some 40 services and parades across the City and County.

5 New website goes live Phase I War Memorials Project Update The website was up and running before the beginning of the Centenary period, so that the public once again had access to the database and could research their local war memorials and casualties. In the coming months (Phase II), new administration features will be added so that new information (coming in all the time) can be added to the online archive. Conservation work continues Recent conservation projects (advice and/or grants) include Woodhouse, Tilton on the Hill, Whitwick, and Medbourne. Woodhouse war memorial before and after conservation The project can be contacted at warmemorials@leics.gov.uk

6 Century of Stories Update On 12th August 2014, the Century of Stories project was launched with an outstanding event at Donington le Heath Manor House. Hosted by the Vice Chairman of Leicestershire County Council, David Snartt, the event was a wonderful success with attendance from over 120 people including Lady Jennifer Gretton (Lord Lieutenant of Leicester and Leicestershire), David Stocker (Committee Member for the East Midlands branch of the Heritage Lottery Fund), Kate Skoczylas (Chair of the Friends of Leicester and Leicestershire Museums), staff members from across LCC and volunteers. A series of History Cafes begins in October. These sessions will teach participants about the many topics and resources available to help them explore their story. Whether interested in discovering family history, village histories, looking into the history of groups such as the Suffragettes or using associations with music, art or literature, everyone has a connection! History Cafes Begin! - Upcoming Cafes will are 10am to 12pm and include light refreshments. Free but booking essential, places limited to 12 per session: 10 th October- Coalville Library 15 th October- Atkins Building, Hinckley 22 nd October- Wigston Library 29 th October- Melton Library 30 th October- Loughborough Library For more information or to enquire about future History Cafe dates please visit our website or contact the project team at centuryofstorires@leics.gov.uk.

7 Loughborough Grammar School Update July 2014 A banner has been produced for the Century of Stories project. Several of our boys helped out with the East Midlands WW1 oral history project from 1 st -4 th July. This involved boys creating oral records from the Record Office at Wigston. Professor John Young giving a lecture September 2014 Special commemorative editions of the school planners will be given out to boys. These highlight significant dates during the school year such as the anniversary of OL deaths. There will be a display cabinet dedicated to WW1 placed in the Orangery. This will be updated by a different Year 9 form each month. 17 th September Sam Sweeney s Fiddle: Made in the Great War. OL Sam Sweeney, member of folk super-group, Bellowhead, will be performing his multi-media performance telling the story of a fiddle he bought that was made in 1915 and owned by a soldier that was killed. Thaddeus McCarthy an old boy who was killed in WW1 and whose photo is on the front of the commemorative school planners for 2014/15 October 2014 The main school tower will be lit up in red for Remembrance Tide a fortnight from 27 th October 2014 this is in line with Leicester City Council who are lighting up significant buildings in the city to coincide with the events surrounding Remembrance Sunday. November th November - Roger Willson (an ex-history teacher at LGS) will give a lunchtime lecture on LGS and WW1 in the school Drama Studio. A booklet will be produced for parents and boys based on Mr Willson s research. Boys looking at one of the school s war memorials

8 Leicester University Update The latest round-up of WW1 activity from the University of Leicester: Colin Hyde and Sally Horrocks (pictured, left) have been travelling the East Midlands (details from them) as part of the BBC World War One at Home Roadshow, gathering and communicating stories of the effects of the war in the region. Their participation at an event at Leicester Cathedral on August Bank Holiday weekend was particularly successful. 18 th October, The university is hosting a special lecture: Invisible Heroes: The Sikhs and Commonwealth Soldiers in World War One 1-11 November the University will be lighting the Fielding Johnson Building in red as part of the county-wide project Poppy planting Unfortunately the poppy field planted earlier in the year on campus has failed to bloom so are working on an alternative solution which involves knitting/crocheting poppies to be attached to sticks and planted in the same space. It has been suggested that 514 poppies be planted to represent each of the soldiers that died in the hospital during the war but this is to be confirmed. 12 Nov Literary Leicester Festival opening talk by award winning non-fiction author, Mark Bostridge, on his latest publication: The Fateful Year: England 1914 Information and tickets to this free event can be found here: Jim Butler (Events and Engagement Manager, College of Arts, Humanities & Law) has now taken the role as lead coordinator for ongoing WW1 activities and is building a team to help develop and deliver a programme to mark and commemorate key events for the remainder of the centenary period. This includes further research into possible 5 th Northern General Hospital material at the National Archives and ongoing work with the East Midlands Oral History Archive.

9 5 million fund announced to protect First World War memorials The War Memorials Trust [Alliance member] is to receive 3 million to boost funding for grants over the four year period of the First World War Centenary, it was announced by the Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, and the Department for Culture Media and Sport in a press statement on 1st July The award to the War Memorials Trust forms part of a wider 5 million fund to conserve and protect war memorials throughout the UK. The other recipients are: Civic Voice [Alliance member] who will be awarded half a million pounds to create a national network of volunteers over the four year centenary period to help build skills to assess the condition of war memorial and encourage their conservation. English Heritage who will receive half a million pounds to provide better protection for war memorials by tripling the number of listed war memorials; and also delivering a larger pool of skilled and trained specialists to repair memorials. The Imperial War Museum has been awarded 500,000 to deliver a website to help communities find out about where war memorials can be found. For more details on the announcement, see the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website.

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13 Hoby First World War commemorations As part of their HLF-funded WW1 project, the village of Hoby held a Remembrance themed flower festival in the church over 2 nd -4 th August Frisby Flower Club, Hoby flower arrangers and Brooksby students staged Reflections: flowers of commemoration to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War which reflected upon a most difficult time in the history of our country. (L) This corner of the church is where the roll of honour and war memorial tablet are located. (R) Hoby s WW1 memorial window dressed as part of the Flower Festival. Should anyone have any information regarding anything pertinent to Hoby or its people during the First World War, please Diane Horsfield hdlhs@horsfste.plus.com Links to the special commemoration website will be found at For further information please contact: Nicky Stephen Marketing Ltd Tel: nicky@nickystephenmarketing.co.uk

14 The Bottesford Parish First World War Centenary: People, community and memory. Official launch of a Heritage Lottery Fund supported community project The Bottesford Community Heritage Project has received 34,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to support a two-year community wide programme of research and events commemorating the centenary of the 1st World War. To mark the official launch of this exciting initiative a community meeting will be held between 4.00pm to 6.00 pm on Sunday 28 th September at the Bottesford VC Hall, Belvoir Road, Bottesford. This project provides opportunities for all, no matter how long they have lived in the Parish of Bottesford, to learn about and help in preserving the memory of the First World War within the local community. Volunteers from local societies, church and chapel congregations, schools and youth organisations will seek out stories about the impact of the war on families and the community. Biographies will be written about the people who served from the villages of Bottesford, Muston, Easthorpe and Normanton: from over 220 men including the 40 who lost their lives. The staging of concerts, heritage trails and school activity days will recreate and illustrate the massive community effort that went into supporting soldiers at the front. Exhibitions and commemorative publications will display and interpret family photographs, letters, postcards and other WW1 mementoes, to open up a window on village life in a time of war. Everything collected and recorded will remain permanently accessible on the Bottesford Living History website and on-line archive ( Commenting on the award David Middleton, the project co-ordinator, said: We are thrilled and privileged to receive the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. It will enable the community to preserve the hidden history of the 1st World War - the memory of the people who served and those at home who loved, cared and coped. The community response is impressive. Over twenty volunteers are already working on the project. We are all looking forward to the official launch. It gives us the opportunity to discuss in detail the project with local residents and to recruit more volunteers. Established in 2007 with aid of Heritage Lottery Funding, the Bottesford Community Heritage Project has worked with local organisations to preserve community heritage. Their web site ( has over 11,000 regular visitors and they maintain an extensive online archive of historic photographs and local memorabilia.

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17 Centenary Events in Photographs Send Centenary photographs to Barkby children plant poppies in the churchyard (L) Cotesbach Educational Trust host a lecture (R) Thankful Village plaque unveiled in Teigh Events in Lutterworth

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