YOUR CATHEDRAL NEEDS YOU…to help uncover lesser known stories of Wakefield’s role in the WW1.
A series of free events have been organized as part of the Cathedral’s special lottery funded project – Then and Now, There and Here: The Imprint of the First World War in Wakefield’.
Following the huge community interest in the Cathedral’s World War One Poppy Project in 2015,the Learning Team at Wakefield Cathedral felt there was a desire in Wakefield for more opportunities to explore the First World War and its impact closer to home.
This new project will enable local people to come together and find out more about the role the city and its people played; discovering the impact of the First World War on the people of Wakefield both at the time and in the 21st century. It will look especially at people coming into the city because of the First World War; the Belgian Refugees, the Conscientious Objectors housed at Wakefield Prison and the patients and staff at the military hospital.
There are a series of free workshops and events organized throughout June, July and August including a reading group and sessions looking at the archives at West Yorkshire History Centre. The reading group will initially meet on Monday 26 June at 7pm in the Treacy Hall, everyone welcome. The first book will be The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie which introduces her famous character Hercule Poirot – a Belgian Refugee, this will be followed by two further non-fiction books – We Will Not Fight … the Untold Story of World War One’s Conscientious Objectors by Will Ellsworth-Jones and Wakefield in the Great War by Tim Lynch. There will be two Saturday morning sessions with The West Yorkshire History Centre where you can find out more about Wakefield during the First World War and learn how to research local history using archives. On July 8 we will look at the archives about Conscientious Objectors and August 12 we will explore Wakefield Cathedral archives for that time. Trips to Wakefield Library to learn how to use the microfiche to research using local newspapers from the period will be arranged at mutually agreed times with the volunteers. When the research has been carried out an exhibition will be organised and a dramatic walking tour of Wakefield arranged taking in sites of interest for the city in the First World War. Volunteers will be weclome to help organized these events and of course attend to celebrate our project.
If you would like more information about any of these events or to find out how you can get involved please contact Gillian Bunn on 01924 373923 or email gillian.bunn@wakefield-cathedral.org.uk