The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation is working in collaboration with Oxford University to create a digital archive of the First World War artefacts stored in bedrooms and attics across the UK. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund we will be staging events across the UK, encouraging people to bring along their family heirlooms to be included in the project. As well as hosting four major Roadshow events, we aim to help support local events across the country. However, we can’t do this without a team of dedicated volunteers who will help us host and support these events.
If you are interested in hosting your own collection day in your community, we provide support and training from the planning to the wrap-up of an event. If you aren’t able to host your own event, but would still like to be involved, then you can sign up as a project volunteer. We’ll let you know of events happening near you, and you can help out in a variety of roles, from interviewing visitors to record their First World War stories to photographing the objects they bring in.
Hosting an event in your local area is a great public engagement opportunity and provides an opportunity to engage with primary source material in understanding the way that the First World War has been interpreted and remembered by subsequent generations, as well as contributing to a national, publicly accessible archive project.
More information can be found here: https://www.cwgc.org/lest-we-forget
