Radcliffe on Trent World War One

Radcliffe on Trent in Nottinghamshire marked the centenary of the First World War between 2014 and the present day with research, exhibitions, films, talks and other notable events. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the initial events were conducted under the auspices of the University of the Third Age (U3A), involving a team of local volunteers. Additional funding was received from 2015 onwards from the 'Centre for Hidden Histories' (University of Nottingham), Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Heritage Forum. In August 2014 the U3A project held a centenary exhibition which took place over ten days and accompanied by films, lectures and a concert. A short book was published, based on the exhibition material. In 2015, four researchers from the original U3A team decided to develop the project further and formed 'Radcliffe on Trent World War One Group'; the main objective that year was to create and manage a website (see link below) .The website includes over four hundred biographies of local servicemen, biographies of more than fifty women involved with war-related work and many articles about different aspects of the impact of the war on Radcliffe on Trent. In 2016, Radcliffe on Trent WW1 Group‘s work included commemorating the Battle of the Somme by highlighting local men who died in the conflict, showing the 1916 'Battle of the Somme' film, and delivering project talks to interested organisations. In 2017 the group focused on producing a number of events commemorating Rockley Memorial Park, donated to the village in 1927 by Lisle Rockley in remembrance of his son and local men who lost their lives. The events included a ceremony held in the park, local talks about the park’s history and the publication of a short book. In 2018, the group marked the centenary of the Armistice over a four-week period. The group created and led guided walks around the village, following a poppy trail based on the homes of the seventy-five servicemen and one woman who lost their lives. We also participated in a concert held in the local church and gave talks to a number of organisations about the immediate aftermath of the war. In 2019, the group erected a blue plaque at The Grange in Radcliffe in honour of local suffragist Hilda Dowson and held a ceremony to mark the occasion. We also submitted a detailed application to the CWGC for the inclusion of a local serviceman on a war memorial in Belgium. Since 2014, 'Radcliffe on Trent World War One Group' have given many talks to local history societies and other community organisations. Our wide-ranging topics have included women and the Red Cross in Nottinghamshire, war trauma and the suffrage movement. One of our members gave papers at the 'Voices of the Home Front’ conference held at the National Archives (2018) and the ‘Voices of War and Peace Conference’ held in Glasgow (2019). Our volunteers were interviewed several times by Radio Nottingham. East Midlands Today produced televised broadcasts of the 2014 exhibition and, in 2018, an interview with one volunteer on the subject of Belgian refugees. Our research continues; current work includes updating all the men’s online biographies with new information from pension records, researching the history of Nottinghamshire County Asylum (which became a war hospital for traumatised servicemen in 1918) and producing a book to archive our findings in paper format.