A

Notes of the meeting of the Leicestershire WW1 Centenary Reference Group held at County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, Friday 18 September 2015

Present:

Murray Colville (Chair) Vice Lord-Lieutenant Richard Cole Chair, EMRF&CA, Leics & Rutland Peter Carr Deputy Lieutenant Michael Pearson Deputy Lieutenant Sarra Jenkins Loughborough Grammar School Craig Blackman Loughborough Grammar School John Sutton The Western Front Association Louise Sharples Century of Stories Ismail Dale Historic England Resham Sandhu Sikh Welfare Society Liz Blood Officer, LCC Tim Webster Leicestershire Lieutenancy Ben Holihead Committee Officer

Apologies:

Lady Gretton Lord Lieutenant Daniel Routt The Woodland Trust Sally Coleman Heritage Manager, Leicester City Council William Hurrell Chair of LCC Veterans’ Associations network meetings Col Phil Watson Commandant, LN&RACF Richard Lane Royal Tigers Association Madeleine Coburn Charnwood Great War Centenary Project Colin Hyde East Midlands Oral History Archive Liz McKenzie Leicester City Council

1. Welcome by the Vice Lord- Lieutenant.

Colonel Murray Colville welcomed all those present.

2. Apologies

Apologies had been received from Lady Gretton, Sally Coleman, Liz McKenzie, William Hurrell, Phil Watson, Colin Hyde, David Atterbury, Daniel Routt, and Madeleine Coburn.

3. Notes of the previous meeting and any Matters Arising.

The notes of the meeting held on Friday 10 July 2015 were noted, signed and approved.

4. Standing orders

a) Following from a play about a soldier called William Hackett staying at the YMCA in Leicester on his way to basic training, the next Lord Lieutenant’s Award would invite 13-19 year olds across Leicestershire to write a letter home as though they were William Hackett. A film had been developed by Ismail Dale which would be circulated to members after the meeting;

b) A venue was being sought for the fundraising dinner depending on the type of event the Group felt would be appropriate for the evening, and whether it should be a buffet or a formal dinner. It was hoped that the proceeds would go towards publishing the runner-up and winning entries from the poetry competition;

c) There was no update on Community Tree Planting;

d) Letters had been circulated regarding the Light Up Your Buildings in Red campaign which took place last year during the poppy appeal. Loughborough Grammar School had confirmed that they would be taking part again. It was hoped that other faith buildings would take part this year in addition to churches;

e) The Group was advised that there had been a delay to the confirmation of its bid to host the Weeping Window poppy display in Leicester. Organisations which had submitted a bid would be approached in due course regarding the outcome of their bid.

5. Century of Stories

The Group received an update on the Century of Stories project. Arising from discussion the following points were raised:-

(i). A History Café and community drop-in was organised at the Community Centre in Thringstone. A young people’s project had also been created to design lamppost banners for the village showing 100 years of change;

(ii). John Sutton had concluded the digitisation of the medical records with a hope that the database will be ready by October. The Group was also informed that Mr Sutton had been a finalist in the Pride of Leicestershire Awards;

(iii). The group at Gartree Prison taking part in the project had made a hand stitched embroidery of the Century of Stories logo which it was hoped would be ready by the next Reference Group meeting ;

(iv). There were events lined up throughout October including an Interfaith Sharing Day, and the beginning of a project entitled “Is there a Tiger in your family?” which would involve 75 pupils from Parkland School Wigston to discover their WW1 connections;

(v). There were a number of future projects due to take place including a young people’s group in Melton investigating the archives at the Defence Animal Centre;

(vi). The social media coverage of the project had continued to increase. 5627 people had been reached on Facebook and Twitter followers had increased by 23%. The project had also been approached by The One Show, Wales who were interested in a story on the project’s website.

6. Charnwood Great War Centenary Project.

It was agreed to defer this item to the next meeting of the Group.

7. Light Up Your Buildings in Red.

This item was discussed earlier in the meeting (note 4.d refers).

8. Battle of the Somme Commemorations.

Tim Webster had approached the cathedral to hold a service marking the battle, and was hoping to find other ways in which it could be commemorated. It was queried whether or not Century of Stories had found any links to the battle.

9. Cathedral Service.

Invitations had been sent out to a service marking the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the 13th October. John Sutton would also be providing a talk on the event later in the year.

10. Updates from members of the Group and any other items.

A conference was being hosted at Loughborough Grammar School which invited students from across the County to look at various issues relating to WW1 including the Treaty of Versailles. The school was also intending to put on a production of ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’, and were holding assemblies throughout the year to mark particular events during WW1 including the bombing of Loughborough.

The Group was asked to submit any items for the bulletin by mid- October.

The green plaque for Private Buckingham VC would be unveiled at the end of September. A number of parish churches were ringing muffled bells a century on from when a local soldier had passed away.

11. Date of next meeting.

The next meeting was to be held on Monday 30 November at 10.00am at County Hall.

14.10 – 14.55 CHAIRMAN 18th September 2015