Lee Banner, Policy Officer at East Sussex County Council and the Project Manager for East Sussex WW1 reflects on its evolution.
In late 2013, we took a blank piece of paper and on it we wrote “project to commemorate the centenary of World War 1 in East Sussex”. From these simple beginnings, the project has delivered and uncovered so much, has brought people together and has provided a platform to share previously untold or forgotten stories of the county’s rich history and involvement in the war.
We knew that the 100 year anniversary and the national programme of activity to remember the war was going to be important and were keen to find a way to share the unique stories of the people, organisations and communities of East Sussex during World War 1.
Our small team settled on the idea of the project being delivered through a website which would be centered on and dedicated to shining a light on the key role played by East Sussex during the war and, with a launch date of 4 August 2014 (to coincide with the centenary of the outbreak of the war), we had our work cut out for us.
It is now three years since the website launched and the project continues to surprise and excite me in so many ways:
• The level of engagement with the public has been amazing – the website has now held over 200 stories and events, of which 61% have been submitted/contributed to by the public. We have a large and growing community of Twitter followers – 1,500 people/organisations receive our regular updates on activity/progress.
• We continue to get increasing traffic to the website – last month we attracted 3,575 users, who viewed the site 6,677 times. The website has been viewed on every continent and, as I type, is being viewed as far afield as Vanuatu!
• The stories of bravery and resolve from the women, men and children of East Sussex and of those from further afield who trained, recovered and supported the war effort from within the county are inspiring! So many gave so much of themselves and the ability to share their stories with a new generation and with future generations is incredibly rewarding.
• The ceremonies we organised to unveil the memorials we created to honour the East Sussex recipients of the Victoria Cross were most humbling. Working with Local Authorities and schools across the county, regimental bodies, local cadet organisations and, where possible, family members to pay a fitting tribute to these local soldiers were emotionally powerful highlights of the project.
• The ability to digitise and make available contemporaneous newspapers and war posters and the response to them has been fantastic.
• The partnership we have with local photographer, Kieron Pelling, is wonderful and the series of Then and Now images he has produced never fail to induce goose bumps.
• Very early on in the project we struck gold in being able to appoint Dr Chris Kempshall as our Project Officer. Chris brought his vast knowledge, expertise and credibility to the project, and the enthusiasm with which he shares this and engages others is magical! Simply put – without Chris there there would have been no project.
The achievements of the project and the legacy that will be left beyond its 4 year lifespan (our website will become part of The Keep’s online catalogue and will be preserved for the ages) are truly significant and something for which we are all very proud.
As someone who, when the project started, could have guessed at but wasn’t certain of the exact years through which World War 1 was fought, this project has been a real gem and an opportunity to learn. Every new story, photograph and event has opened up a new world to me – of the soldiers, communities and families of East Sussex and their contribution to the war effort. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be involved in this project.
“There is nothing new in the world except the history you did not know” – President Harry S. Truman
