The Heritage Lottery Fund has this week awarded £10,000 to a project near Burnham-On-Sea marking the centenary of the First World War.
The ‘Isle of Wedmore Remembers the First World War 1914-19 Project’ has received the grant for a research project looking at the villages of Wedmore, Blackford, Theale and the Allertons.
Awarded as part of the Government’s Centenary Programme, the project is being run jointly by St Mary’s Church, Hugh Sexey Middle School and Wedmore First School Academy.
It will focus on gathering and preserving local history about life on the home front in Somerset, the local servicemen who fell between 1914-19 and also look at the impact of the war on a selection of soldiers and sailors who returned home and rebuilt their lives.
The project will mark the Centenary year with an exhibition to be held in Wedmore in November 2014, a fully researched book and a series of talks and seminars held at the local schools about the conflict.
The project aims to enable the local community and schoolchildren to come together to preserve the memories and heritage of local people who lived through the First World War.
All the artefacts, documents and photographs gathered locally and from archives scattered across the world will be carefully recorded and preserved and will form a permanent archive at the Somerset Heritage Centre that in the future will allow historians and the general public to discuss, share and research information about life in the Isle of Wedmore between 1914-19.
Dr Tim Moreman, the project leader, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund that will enable the inhabitants of Wedmore, Blackford, Theale and the Allertons to explore and preserve the memory of the sacrifice made by the local community during the Great War.”
Burnham’s MP Tessa Munt added: “I am delighted this wonderful local project will be receiving support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The commitment that local servicemen made was truly incredible, it is right they are celebrated and their memory preserved – this is a wonderful thing for Wedmore, it’s neighbouring villages and Somerset in general.”
Explaining the importance of the HLF support, the head of the HLF in the South West, Nerys Watts, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond.”
“The Heritage Lottery Fund has already invested more than £4million in projects – large and small – that are marking this global Centenary; with our new small grants programme, we are enabling even more communities like those involved in ‘The Isle of Wedmore Remembers the First World War, 1914-19’ project to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”
