Council receives £90,000 grant for World War One project
WEST Sussex Library Service has been given a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of almost £90,000 to launch a project charting the impact of the First World War on residents.
The Library Service will work with the County Record Office as well as volunteers, teachers, schoolchildren and students to create a vivid picture of how towns and villages, families and individuals were affected by ‘the war to end all wars.’
A major focus of the project will be to create 40 case studies detailing how the war affected people in different ways - from servicemen to those on the home front.
The project will delve into the family backgrounds of local people involved, and try to discover their fate.
Domestic issues such as recruitment, home defence, morale and dissent, internment of foreigners, rationing and the threat of Zeppelin air raids will be explored.
West Sussex schools will be involved in putting together teaching packs to aid further study. County newspapers covering the period 1910 to 1925 will also be digitised, to cover the years leading up to the war and its aftermath
The results of the project will be lead to a new dedicated website to help researchers and residents trace family histories, a book entitled West Sussex at War 1914-18, and a travelling exhibition that will tour county libraries during the summer of 2014.
County council deputy leader Lionel Barnard, who oversees the library service, said: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this grant. It means we can respond to a growing public interest in World War One, and the increasing number of requests for information about how local people were affected.”
Stuart McLeod, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England, said: “As we approach the centenary, many people want to learn more about the individual stories that will make this world-shattering event relevant on a personal level.”
Volunteer researchers will be scouring accounts from the County Record Office, local newspapers from the period and the extensive archives of The Royal Sussex Regiment. Records show that four servicemen from the county regiment won Victoria Crosses.
Does anyone have any stories about Crawley and its people during World War One? Contact Karen Dunn or write to 12, The Boulevard, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 1XY. You can also leave your comments below.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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