A Notes of the meeting of the Leicestershire WW1 Centenary Reference Group held at County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, Monday 30 November 2015 Present: Murray Colville (Chair) Lady Gretton William Hurrell Peter Carr Michael Pearson Col Phil Watson John Sutton Sally Coleman Louise Sharples Helen Emery Amanda Hanton Madeleine Coburn Bill Brookman Ismail Dale David Maksymiw Tim Webster Ben Holihead Vice Lord-Lieutenant Lord Lieutenant Chair of LCC Veterans Associations network meetings Deputy Lieutenant Deputy Lieutenant Commandant, LN&RACF The Western Front Association Heritage Manager, Leicester City Council Century of Stories Century of Stories Century of Stories Charnwood Great War Centenary Project Charnwood Great War Centenary Project Historic England School networks Leicestershire Lieutenancy Democratic Services Apologies: Daniel Routt Pam Posnett CC Liz Blood Richard Cole Colin Hyde Liz McKenzie The Woodland Trust County Councillor War Memorials Project EMRF&CA East Midlands Oral History Archive Leicester City Council 1. Welcome by the Vice Lord- Lieutenant. Colonel Murray Colville welcomed all those present. David Maksymiw was welcomed to the meeting and it was hoped that he would be an invaluable point of communication with schools in Leicestershire. Leicestershire County Council was thanked for facilitating the meetings of the Group. 2. Apologies Apologies had been received from Daniel Routt, Pam Posnett CC, Liz Blood, Liz McKenzie, David Atterbury, and Richard Cole.
3. Change to the order of business. It was agreed to change the order of business from that as set out on the agenda. 4. Battle of the Somme Commemorations The Group received an outline of the potential events and projects to be undertaken as part of the Battle of the Somme commemorations taking place throughout 2016. Arising from discussion the following points were raised:- (i). (ii). (iii). (iv). Century of Stories (CoS) would be leading on many of the Somme commemoration activities and were hoping to work in partnership with the Group to provide ideas which would not only appropriate mark the centenary of the Somme but would also provide a legacy for future generations. Those present were advised that following consultation with the Leader of Leicestershire County Council and the City Mayor, there was significant political support for commemorating the Battle of the Somme in Leicestershire; At the previous meeting of the Group, the Vice Lord Lieutenant had introduced the Trent to Trenches project taking place in Nottinghamshire which involved a series of collections and exhibitions to mark the centenary of WW1. A similar project entitled Soar to Somme had been suggested to mark the significant contribution made by the Leicestershire Regiment to the Battle of the Somme. This would hopefully involve a series of collections of photos and other related artefacts, and commemoration events taking place around the County; CoS had explored different ways to populate a collection of archives and stories relating to personnel from Leicestershire who had been involved in the Battle of the Somme. However there remained to be a number of variables to establish, such as whether or not to include soldiers who later died as a result of their injuries, and whether to only focus on regiments based in Leicestershire or to include all personnel from Leicestershire even if they were not based at a unit in Leicestershire. These variables would be dependent on the amount of time available to research the casualties linked to Leicestershire. At present it was estimated that there were 2097 casualties from Leicestershire during the Battle of the Somme, however this figure was likely to increase; CoS had explored a number of websites which might act as a central co-ordinating hub for mapping commemorative events and activities across the city and county. These included Pinterest and Europeana. However it was felt that Historypin better matched the
Group s requirement. The Light Up your Buildings in Red initiative was cited as a good example where pictures of each building would be pinned on the map where they are located; (v). (vi). (vii). (viii). The management of populating the data together would be undertaken by CoS who would also offset any costs associated with the initiative; All links to the Historypin would be distributed, in addition to being included on the Group s website, and on the CoS website. Members of the Group would be encouraged to share the website widely once the data had been collected; School children in Leicestershire had been researching the names of those on local war memorials who had been killed in the Somme. It was hoped that there could be further engagement with schools in WW1 as happens in Northern France where schools were involved in maintaining war memorials; The Group was encouraged to think about how their organisations could mark the centenary of the Somme and how this could form a holistic overview of Leicestershire s contribution to the battle. Those present were keen to ensure that it was commemorated appropriately. This would involve a service being held at the cathedral on the 1 st July 2016. 5. Notes of the previous meeting and any Matters Arising. The notes of the meeting held on Friday 18 September 2015 were noted, signed and approved. 6. Standing orders a) The winning poems from the Lord Lieutenant s Award for 2015 had been published as a booklet and was available for anyone who requested a copy. Copies would be sent to the schools where the winning entries came from. The poems would also be published on the relevant websites; b) A fundraising dinner was in the process of being organised with Bill Harriman. The Group was asked for their views on what they thought any funds raised could go towards; c) Daniel Routt was not present and therefore unable to provide an update on the Community Tree Planting; d) Due to the Somme Commemorations taking place in 2016, it was anticipated that the Communications Plan would have to be refreshed to take this into account;
e) Tim Webster was waiting for feedback on the bid to host the Weeping Window due to a delay in dealing with application. It was hoped that a response would be received in December. Following the meeting Tim Webster was advised that the bid had been unsuccessful. 7. Century of Stories The Group received an update on the work of Century of Stories (CoS) since the previous Group meeting in September. Arising from discussion the following points were raised:- (i). (ii). (iii). (iv). (v). The Interfaith event had been a success with four faith schools participating. Those present were encouraged to visit the CoS website to look at how schools had prepared for the day; A group of residents residing at the Falcon Centre in Loughborough had taken part in a project with CoS looking at the town twinning of Loughborough with Shwabisch Hall, Germany. The project had been a success, and had allowed the residents to occupy themselves with a project; Parklands School in Wigston had visited the Records Office to research names on the Wigston War Memorial and learn about the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Overall the project had been a significant success with a significant amount of family members attending an event to look at the research undertaken by the students; A project would be launched in 2016 with Moira schools about the life of a canal family during WW1. This would form part of the school curriculum and officers would be delivering the project every Tuesday afternoon; Progress was ongoing with working with individuals interested in researching family relations to WW1, with some breakthroughs as a result of the MH106 medical records which had been digitised. 8. Charnwood Great War Centenary Project. The Group received an update on the Charnwood Great War Centenary Project. Arising from discussion the following points were raised:- (i). (ii). The project which had been funded for two years from 2014, was based in Loughborough but covered the entirety of Charnwood. Its key aim was to move the badly maintained memorials of All Saints and Trinity churches in Charnwood which were now kept at All Saints Parish Church in Loughborough; A number of events had also taken place as part of the project including a debate surrounding Field Marshall Hague and the
purposes behind going to war; (iii). (iv). (v). (vi). A social history research group was undertaking research into the names of the memorials with the intention of publishing two books; a book of remembrance for the church and a book on social history. There was also a social history exhibition on display at Charnwood Museum which included submissions from individuals; The Limehurst Group and Hindu Ladies Group had stitched two blankets containing images on key themes surrounding WW1. The two blankets were displayed to those present at the meeting; A number of ideas were being explored to mark the centenary of the Zeppelin Raid on Loughborough on 31 st January 1916; Concern was expressed over the continuation of elements such as Somme commemorations and legacy after the project finishes in 2016. 9. Commemorative Paving Slab for Robert Gee VC Work was ongoing to establish where a paving slab would be laid to commemorate Robert Gee VC. Sally Coleman had been in touch with his grandson who was supportive of placing the slab outside of New Walk Museum. The Tigers Association was also supportive of placing the slab outside of the museum despite there being no link between Gee and the Leicestershire Regiment. 10. Updates from members of the Group and any other items. Ismail Dale informed the Group of the recent work with schools around centenary events. These had included using the war memorials website to write a report on the conditions of memorials which were nearly 100 years old. Older children from the secondary schools had acted as mentors to younger children doing their research. CoS staff encouraged those present to send stories such as these to CoS who could display them on the website, the contents of which would be archived after 2018. Phil Watson informed the Group that as young people gradually moved up the cadets (12 18 year olds) they would be exposed to some of the centenary events taking place in addition to any activities undertaken at school. Some cadets would be travelling to Ypres in the future and another two would be going on exchange with two Australian cadets. All cadets were being encouraged to wear their poppies after the Poppy Appeal had ended. Following the digitization of the MH106 medical records there was approximately 45,000 images altogether. Robin Jenkins would be discussing with the National Archives any issues regarding copyright and the publication of these images.
Sally Coleman showed the Group a framed poppy tribute to local servicemen on display at St Barnabas library. It was hoped that at the next meeting a film showing the centenary work of the New Parks Library group could be displayed. 11. Dates of future meetings. The next meeting was to be held on Monday 30 November at 10.00am at County Hall. 10.00 11.35 CHAIRMAN 30 th November 2015