Racing Remembers

‘Racing Remembers’ in November was a great opportunity to highlight some of the work of Gloucestershire Archives @ the Heritage Hub. The Centaur Hall at Cheltenham racecourse was packed with displays from heritage groups and organisations around Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, including ours, all invited to showcase what they have been doing to commemorate the First World War.

Head of Archives, Heather Forbes, was helped on the day by Archives volunteers involved in creating the new World War 1 layer on Know Your Place – one of our key partnership  websites. Drawing in the crowds to our Hub display were the original large boards made by local historian David Drinkwater when he first began his ambitious project to plot the homes of serving soldiers and their families in Cheltenham. Thanks to the enthusiastic group of volunteers from Cheltenham Local History Society, all the images and information gleaned by David’s research can now be accessed online on KYP.

“We spoke to well over 150 people during the day”, said Heather.  “They were fascinated to see how Know Your Place shows the impact of the First World War on Cheltenham families. We are very grateful to David for sharing his hard work and to all the volunteers for contributing to this project.”

www.kypwest.org.uk