First World War project tour a great success throughout South Gloucestershire

The travelling exhibition, launched in July last year, is currently touring public venues in South Gloucestershire to engage directly with local communities and show the impact of the war in the area and also how communities were changed in other countries with which South Gloucestershire is now twinned.

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to mark the centenary of the First World War, 1914-1918, the project involves South Gloucestershire Council working with local community heritage organisations to improve public engagement with the anniversary.

The exhibition, which can be viewed at Kingswood Library, reveals that people in South Gloucestershire fought as soldiers, became nurses and worked in factories, and that local businesses made aircraft, motorbikes and boots which were used in the First World War.

Due to previously being hosted at prominent locations in the foyer of large supermarkets in Yate and Bradley Stoke, it is estimated that the exhibition has now been viewed over 500,000 times.

It features information about different areas of South Gloucestershire’s involvement in the war, and the display includes archive images from local organisations belonging to the South Gloucestershire Museums Group, Heritage Forum and Twinning Associations.

As part of the project, South Gloucestershire Council’s First World War engagement officer has been visiting local primary schools with a replica soldier’s ‘kitbag’ to hold handling workshops.

A  website has also been created to act as a hub for all of the local WW1 events and activities, including full details of the exhibition and the education resources available, as well as helpful research guides and information about local war memorials.

The exhibition can be viewed at Kingswood Library throughout February, before it moves on to Staple Hill Library between March 3 and 24.

For further information visit www.southglos.gov.uk/ww1.