Living Legacies 1914-18

Lead Research Organisation: Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Inst for Collaborative Res in Humanities

Abstract

Nowhere else in the whole of the UK does the First World War (FWW) have such an enduring and tangible impact on everyday life and culture as it does in contemporary Northern Ireland. The very existence of Northern Ireland (NI) as a political unit - born in 1922 - owes so much to the FWW and the associated fraught relationships that existed between Great Britain and Ireland at that time. It is within this context that a compelling case can be made to create a FWW Coordinating Centre in NI.

The NI FWW Centre will be in the right place at the right time to witness and record the serious and significant FWW commemorative activities that will occur in NI (and Ireland) between 2014 and 2018. It will provide not only the means to ensure that this momentous period is itself committed to history but through its activities and resources, the Centre will provide a service to a community with immense interest in and appetite for the FWW. This is true for both the Protestant community in NI - long aligning itself with the legacies of the FWW - as well as the Roman Catholic community, only now coming to terms with its place in the history (and heritage) of the FWW, the peace process allowing examination of what was for so long a hidden history. The NI FWW Centre will act as a hub of knowledge exchange and research coproduction across NI, through supporting community researchers within a framework of arts and humanities expertise and scholarship existing within the two NI universities, Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster. It will do so through a programme of research training and outreach events, developed through a partnership with National Museums of Northern Ireland (NMNI), the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, and Libraries NI. Four key areas of research expertise of international standing at QUB and UU will be used to forge linkages between community heritage projects and academic and professional heritage researchers.

Migration history, museum studies, material culture, and performing arts have much relevance for NI communities, as is borne out by recent HLF-funded FWW projects in NI, and through the Centre these and others will be developed during 2014-2016, coinciding with key FWW commemorative events and anniversaries taking place in Ireland. In this context, the Centre will help connect Irish and Ulster communities across the UK and Ireland, and indeed beyond, putting the community research projects on a global stage. Here especially the Centre's use of digital and multimedia approaches will enable NI communities to reach a much wider audience and engagement, giving new voice to the enduring past legacies of the FWW in Ireland, as well as building a lasting future legacy of the commemorative period itself.

Critically, the government of NI through the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, fully supports this proposal (see letter of support), thus ensuring the involvement of those heritage bodies that fall within its remit (eg PRONI and Libraries NI). It also has very strong support from the university sector within NI and beyond, including leading universities in GB which also have expertise in the FWW and Ireland, notably Goldsmiths, University of London, and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The NI FWW Centre will foster these research linkages and through them provide community researchers across the UK with a hub for meeting and exchanging knowledge and expertise about Ireland and the FWW. Using the facilities, resources and of QUB's new Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, where the Centre will be based, and led by a team of dedicated, experienced, and enthusiastic public-facing researchers at QUB and UU, the Centre will capitalise on the well-established local community relations that exist in NI between the heritage and university sectors, as well as devolved government departments and organisations in NI including the Community Relations Council (CRC) and HLF.

Planned Impact

Beneficiaries include heritage stakeholders embracing NI government departments; public sector agencies; professional and practitioner groups; creative and performing arts groups; the media; and local communities and the wider public, as follows:

NI government: Through collaborations with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI), and Libraries NI, the Centre will have close ties with the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), while through its relationship between the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (CAF) and Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) the Centre will also link to the Department of Environment (DOE). Areas of impact through these government department and agency links will include stronger and more visible public engagement and knowledge exchange addressing current policy concerns over increasing interaction for disenfranchised and marginalised communities. The Centre will also make substantive contributions to support and better enable these agencies to achieve their strategic aims and public outreach work, for example through creating resourced projects that improve public awareness and understanding of FWW heritage and the environment.

Museums and heritage: With a close working relationship with national museums and archives, including NMNI and PRONI, and local and regimental museums, such as Derry City Museum, North Down Museum, the Somme Heritage Centre, the Inniskillings Museum, Royal Ulster Rifles Museum, and Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum, the Centre's research and training activities with curators and conservators will provide a basis for developing new research and interpretation for public exhibitions, embedding advanced curating techniques and promoting awareness at the local and regional level. Active participation of community researchers in museum and archival projects will be a key element of the Centre's community heritage projects, enabled through agreements between the Centre and NMNI and the Irish Regimental Museums (see letters of support). Impacts include the coproduction of new content for interpretation, and via the Centre's digitisation training programme, making available FWW materials.

Community heritage: The 'informal' heritage community in NI is large and complex. The Centre will engage with a wide range of heritage groups with specialist interests, connecting their activities to professional research and heritage networks. The organisations so far consulted about these benefits include the Ulster Historical Foundation; 6th Connaught Rangers Research Project; Unionist Centenary Committee; 36th Ulster Division Memorial Association; Ulster Aviation Research Group; and the Armagh War Memorial project. Impacts arising from partnerships with these groups (and others) will include up-skilling community researchers, for example through training in digital techniques and workshops on curating and archiving; so opening community research access to resources and funding opportunities (including HLF funding), creating wider impacts through new audiences.

Creative arts: Through the Centre's creative arts priority area and the on-going collaboration between NMNI and QUB in scripting and performing a new FWW-based play, 'The Medal in the Drawer', the Centre will provide resources for and engagement with a wide and active community of creative arts groups in NI. This activity includes fostering the strong links between QUB's School of Creative Arts and the Kabosh Theatre Company and ties with NI theatres such as the Lyric, Playhouse, and the MAC. The Centre's Community Steering Group chair, Dr Winter Palmer, has extensive media ties, and as founder and artistic director of Replay, NI's longest established Educational Theatre Company and creative director of Mixed Peppers Theatre Arts Training Programme (for young people with disabilities), the Centre's creative and performing arts will engage disenfranchised groups.
 
Title Medals All Round Research Initiative (MARRI) 
Description Medals All Round Research Initiative (MARRI) is a community drama project which will encourage groups to research, script and perform family and community stories that reveal an infinitely more nuanced and inclusive account of the human experience of a region simultaneously 'at war' with itself and with an outside force. Building upon the formative work already done through the presentation of Brenda Winter-Palmer's play The Medal in the Drawer, and its outreach project 2014-2015, 'Medals All Round' combines the knowledge, expertise and facilities of Drama at Queen's University Belfast with that of the Creative Learning department at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in order to create a model for interaction with community groups at the grassroots level (eight organisations have already expressed interest in being part of the project). The Lyric and Queen's will employ our expertise in Drama facilitation to assist these community groups in exploring their heritage in relation to the First World War. The groups selected reflect a broad range of diversity, including Protestant and Catholic communities, a Special Needs group, Prisoners/Ex-Offenders and groups from localities defined as areas of social need. We plan to provide each of the groups with an experienced Drama Facilitator who, over the course of 10 two-hour visit, will provide support and advice on using theatre skills to allow members of the community to tell their own stories. Through this process, the participants in the project (both those employed within the project and the community groups they visit) will enhance their own skills so that they can continue to carry on similar work in the future. The project is thus designed to leave a crucial legacy-when the project is over, multiple community groups will have gained the knowledge and skills to direct their energies to the representation of communal narratives (about the First World War and beyond), and a group of young facilitators will have gained unparalleled experience in leading such projects. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact On 29 February 2016, The Medals All Round Research Initiative (MARRI) culminated in an event at the Lyric Theatre Belfast with a presentation of the performances, plays and films that have emerged from our work with a variety of community groups from around Northern Ireland. The project began with a group of former QUB students being brought to each of the groups to perform an excerpted version of Dr. Brenda Winter-Palmer's play The Medal in the Drawer. With the play as inspiration and a starting point, the groups, with the help of a facilitator, began to explore their own ideas and knowledge of the war as we remember it in Northern Ireland. 
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/Projects/FundedProjects/MedalsAllRoundResearchInitiativeMARRI...
 
Title Remembering 1916: Your Stories 
Description The Remembering 1916: Your Stories exhibition forms a key part of our 1916 centenary programme. As well as featuring a diverse range of material from our own collection, it will also draw on a selection of community objects and stories collected through the Living Legacies First World War Engagement Centre. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact High public attendance, critical questions asked and key issues engaged with. 
URL http://nmni.com/1916
 
Title The Living Legacies 2016 Writers' Summer School 
Description The Living Legacies 2016 Writers' Summer School was a new departure for the Engagement Centre. The Centre was established in January 2014 as one of five First World War Engagement Centres in the UK which work alongside community groups to explore the war period and its meaning for people today. It includes academics working at Glasgow, Newcastle, Queen's and Ulster Universities, amongst others, who have teamed with community groups, museum experts and people across the heritage and cultural sectors to produce new knowledge and understanding of the period. The Summer School built upon previous initiatives events hosted by Living Legacies, including: Medals All Round Research Initiative (MARRI), which resulted in Of Bicycles and Fallow Fields, a WW1 drama written and performed by Omagh Robins; the event Music and Memories held at the Inniskillings Museum in June 2015, during which musician Tracey MacRory talked about the wartime inspiration for her music; and the visit of the Fermanagh Writers to Northern Ireland War Memorial in March 2016. 
Type Of Art Creative Writing 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact The writers made new and deeper connections with the Living Legacies team; learned from the experiences of Marion Maxwell, Bellanaleck History Group, and their Cleenish Island project funded by HLF First World War Then and Now scheme; and made new friends within the recently amalgamated of Fermanagh & Omagh District Council. The two days represented not only a significant time commitment from the participants, but also one that would challenge their preconceptions of the war period and why we should remember. By the end they had produced new work, learned new skills about their craft, and had greater understanding of the impact and legacy of the First World War period. For the Living Legacies team the two days provided an invaluable insight into the multiple meanings that can be drawn from the war period and how each person constructs that past in a way that has relevance for their contemporary lives. Collaborations were lively, the mood was one of generosity and mindfulness, and the work read on the final day was moving and deeply insightful. 
URL http://www.corncrakemagazine.com/article/living-legacies/#more-444%20
 
Description The Centre's have partnered with community-based networks and projects to explore, interpret and record the 'living legacies' of the First World War. In particular, we are helping communities across the UK to:
• tell their stories and share these stories with others;
• rediscover the forgotten First World War heritage in our landscapes;
• find out why and where people moved as a result of the war;
• express stories about the conflict through drama and theatre.
Exploitation Route The formation of the Living Legacies Engagement Centre emerged through shared interests between academics in exploring the contemporary resonances of the First World War. The past is particularly palpable in Northern Ireland, where our centre is situated. In Ireland, the First World War had a complex impact and longstanding effect, still evidenced today by the enduring legacies of the conflict in the histories and identities of Ireland's populations, as well as in its politics and places, both in this offshore part of the UK as well as in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.

These troubled legacies of the First World War offer interesting opportunities to work with communities in understanding the cultural politics of conflict commemoration and its shaping of transnational identities, subjects we think have contemporary relevance not just for Northern Ireland but for other parts of Europe too, and indeed other parts of the world. For this reason we are using different but complementary areas of research - our five themes - to address the First World War not simply as history but as heritage.

Thinking about heritage focuses attention on the ways the past lives on in the present, in complex ways. This academic interest also provides us with substantive ways of contributing to community-based research projects that are similarly concerned with First World War heritage; whether that heritage is something that is shared, for example through theatre, through landscapes and monuments, and museums; or something kept personal and private, such as family histories and objects, artefacts and memorabilia that we keep as reminders of the First World War and its impacts on previous generations.

What we hope the Living Legacies engagement centre will achieve, during the three years it is funded, is a stronger shared understanding of the First World War and its legacies. We aim to bring disparate communities together through linking projects that share a common interest in the war's continued presence in our lives and our memories. Recording these modern-day community engagements with First World War heritage, during the centenary period, is as important - we think - as researching the war itself, taking both together we can begin to move from a past conflict to a shared future.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/
 
Description Our findings to date have informed and supported a range of activities, such as drama facilitation with school groups, historical walking tours in Belfast, the creation of a collaborative digital archive of privately-held memorabilia, and to produce maps using original data. The coproduction projects funded through Living Legacies have formed a basis for the Decade of Centenaries Toolkit produced by by the Community Relations Council (NI), for example. The Ulster Museum (NMNI) co-curated an exhibition in 2016 on the centenary of 1916, drawing on Living Legacies outreach activities.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural,Societal
 
Description WW1 public engagement centres
Amount £497,710 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2017 
End 12/2019
 
Title Community resources 
Description 'Living Legacies 1914-18' has gathered together a range of resources to help community researchers develop ideas for projects, as well as provide information on how to get funding, and to provide news on upcoming events and activities. We have also developed digital resources, online videos and 'WW1 workshops' covering a range of topics that will be of interest to community and university researchers wishing to explore the impacts and legacies of WW1. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Adoption by Community Relations Council (NI). 
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/
 
Title Living Legacies 1914-18 Digital Archive 
Description A collection of objects and stories gathered at 2 years' worth of public engagement events across Northern Ireland. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Ulster Museum used the database to curate an exhibition which was in the museum from 2015-2016. 
URL http://nmni.com/1916
 
Title Mapping UVF Members from West Belfast in 1913-14 who Served in the Great War 
Description A new digital spatial resource created in collaboration with Conor Graham (GIS Unit) and Paul Ell (CDDA), School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast through the Living Legacies 1914-18 Public Engagement Centre. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Used for public engagement events. 
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/LearningZone/DigitalResources/MappingUVFMembersfromWestBelfas...
 
Description Belfast Somme 100 
Organisation Belfast City Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Members of LL gave lectures and seminars during the programme of events which Somme 100 featured. Further, one of our key team members sat on the advisory board of Somme 100 and developed collboarations between the team and our academics.
Collaborator Contribution Somme 100 - via History Hub - designed and managed a 147 day programme of events and invited LL to participate as academic partners.
Impact Medal in the Drawer- a play written by one of our members - was performed to new audiences in community sites and critical questions discussed afterward as part of outreach activities. LL members gave lectures as part of the conference co-produced by Somme 100 and Western Front Association. A booklet on the Somme was distributed to schools to provide greater understanding for local pupils.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Dear Mrs Pennyman: Letters of the King's Own Borderers Widows and Orphans Fund 
Organisation Teesside University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Our digitisation research strand are working alongside the Teeside team to co-produce an archive of original letters from WW1.
Collaborator Contribution The researchers at Teeside have uncovered original materials which as yet have not been made available to the public.
Impact The research project is in the early stages of consultation and design. A full website will be made available once complete.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Diverse Perspectives on a global conflict 
Organisation Ulster University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Fed back on research design and aims and supporting directly via key Project Officer role
Collaborator Contribution Conducting research and working with centre on engagement activities
Impact none as yet
Start Year 2016
 
Description East Belfast & the Great War 
Organisation East Belfast and the Great War
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Several of our research strands have worked with EB &GW project to produce a series of community roadshows, all well-attended and producing some fantastic, archival images of WW1 memorabilia. We have also worked to help the project produce a website, which will host the materials we have digitised. The links developed throughout this work will persist, as the team work to develop a book which charts the East Belfast contribution to the war, using one of our academic's methodological models.
Collaborator Contribution The EB team have worked to raise and uncover local interest in the war. They have run extremely successful upskilling sessions to train local citizens in researching their war history. They have also undertaken extensive archival research to support their research aims.
Impact http://www.eastbelfastww1.com/ this website is one particular outcome. The archive pertaining to East Belfast is hosted under our main page http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/LivingLegacies1914-18DigitalArchive/. Part of our AHRC 'Connected Communities' Festival was this joint event http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2015/June2015/#d.en.506826. This was a very successful roadshow event where we assessed and digitised local materials. Museums experts and digital humanities scholars worked with the project http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/October2014/#d.en.464968. More events are ongoing and will be added in due course
Start Year 2014
 
Description Geordie Soldiers in Dominion Armies, 1914-18 
Organisation Northumbria University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution As part of an allocated funding stream granted by the AHRC, LL distributed funds to the project and provided academic guidance and oversight in ensuring each project fulfilled its stated aims and showed fielty to the notion of co-production and a commitment to public impact.
Collaborator Contribution The partners led the project, crafting a research agenda and a community participation element and delivered the aims of the project, maintaining a close working relationship with LL academics and collaborating on engagement activities.
Impact A documentary produced by the team has been made available publicly. The Conversation featured an article on the research focus of the project. Lectures given detailing preliminary findings of the research - all available to see here - http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/Projects/FundedProjects/GeordieSoldiersinDominionArmies1914-18/NewsEvents/.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Libraries NI 
Organisation Libaries NI
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution In collaboration with Libraries NI we are running a series of Road shows (7) throughout NI, which explore community engagement with the Legacy of the FWW. The team is made up of two themes Migration and Digital Technologies, NI Museum (LL Heritage Officer) and administration support.
Collaborator Contribution Libraries NI have provided the range of venues, marketing support, family history expertise and administration.
Impact This is multi-disciplinary. Human Geography, Digital Technologies, Migration and Diaspora Studies, Archaeology, Museums and Exhibitions. CDDA is creating a project database which will hold digital images and oral histories gathered from the community and which can be drawn upon to produce original academic research.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Mellon Centre for Migration Studies 
Organisation Mellon Centre for Migration Studies
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Omagh at War 1913-1919, is an exhibit of First World War era photographs, most of which were taken by Norman Holland and presented by Dr CJ Haldane Mitchell BEM, in his well-known Images of Omagh book series (21 volumes) published by The Rotary Club from 1990-2015. The photographer Norman Holland was a solicitor based in Omagh who had a passion for photography and has left a wonderful visual record of the West Tyrone region during the First World War. The project has been developed by the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster-American Folk Park and the Scotch-Irish Trust of Ulster in partnership with Living Legacies 1914-18 First World War Engagement Centre.
Collaborator Contribution Omagh at War 1913-1919, is an exhibit of First World War era photographs, most of which were taken by Norman Holland and presented by Dr CJ Haldane Mitchell BEM, in his well-known Images of Omagh book series (21 volumes) published by The Rotary Club from 1990-2015. The photographer Norman Holland was a solicitor based in Omagh who had a passion for photography and has left a wonderful visual record of the West Tyrone region during the First World War. The project has been developed by the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster-American Folk Park and the Scotch-Irish Trust of Ulster in partnership with Living Legacies 1914-18 First World War Engagement Centre.
Impact TBC
Start Year 2016
 
Description NIEA 
Organisation Northern Ireland Environment Agency
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Colm Donnelly, one of our Archaeology academics, has been central to the development and enactment of a very successful "public dig" which was carried out in September.
Collaborator Contribution NIEA have worked to increase public interest in defence heritage as a lasting, physical legacy of the war and provided practical support in holding open days.
Impact Multi-disciplinary; involving Material Cultures and Archaeology and Geography.
Start Year 2014
 
Description NMNI 
Organisation National Museums Northern Ireland
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NMNI are partners of the Living Legacies 1914-18 engagement centre, and have part resourced the centre's project curator.
Collaborator Contribution NMNI Head of Human History is a member of the Centre's PCT and line-manager for the centre's project curator.
Impact Outcomes include public engagement events and outreach as well as seminars and conference papers and museum interpretation.
Start Year 2014
 
Description PRONI 
Organisation Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Sharing of resources and joint public initiatives.
Collaborator Contribution Facilitating public engagement and outreach.
Impact Public events.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Refocusing Perspectives: Then and Now photography of FWW 
Organisation University of Exeter
Department Medical School
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Supported research design to we ensure aims tied in with centre's overall objectives.
Collaborator Contribution Conducting the research and feeding into LL broader brief.
Impact none as yet.
Start Year 2016
 
Description The Scapa Flow Shuttling 
Organisation Newcastle University
Department The McCord Centre for Landscape
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Working collaboratively with the group from application to research stage we have helped to ensure the research aims were in line with own thematic interests and that the outputs fulfilled our public engagement brief. Living Legacies have assigned a Project Officer to provide oversight and support and work alongside the partner group to fulfil their objectives.
Collaborator Contribution Matthew Grenby and his team are conducting the research and feeding into centre activities and research aims.
Impact None as yet.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Visualising the Iolaire 
Organisation Abertay University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Working collaboratively with the group from application to research stage we have helped to ensure the research aims were in line with own thematic interests and that the outputs fulfilled our public engagement brief. Living Legacies have assigned a Project Officer to provide oversight and support and work alongside the partner group to fulfil their objectives.
Collaborator Contribution Ian Donald and his team are conducting the research and linking in to centre activities, both academic and public engagement.
Impact None as yet. Awards granted end 2016.
Start Year 2016
 
Description War and the Moral Outdoors 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Working collaboratively with the group from application to research stage we have helped to ensure the research aims were in line with own thematic interests and that the outputs fulfilled our public engagement brief. Living Legacies have assigned a Project Officer to provide oversight and support and work alongside the partner group to fulfil their objectives.
Collaborator Contribution Paul Wright and his team are conducting the research along with community partners which supports the Centre's community engagement brief.
Impact None as yet.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Welsh Memorials to the Great War 
Organisation Swansea University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution As part of an allocated funding stream granted by the AHRC, LL distributed funds to the project and provided academic guidance and oversight in ensuring each project fulfilled its stated aims and showed fielty to the notion of co-production and a commitment to public impact.
Collaborator Contribution The partners led the project, crafting a research agenda and a community participation element and delivered the aims of the project, maintaining a close working relationship with LL academics and collaborating on engagement activities.
Impact The effective recording of Welsh WW1 memorials, particularly in Powys. This has allowed for monuments, be they statues, plaques, stained glass windows to be restored and protected. These have also been digitally recorded and mapped by Living Legacies and their digital partner, the Centre for Data Digitisation at QUB.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Women and Leisure during the First World War - 'An Essential Part of National Work 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution As part of an allocated funding stream granted by the AHRC, LL distributed funds to the project and provided academic guidance and oversight in ensuring each project fulfilled its stated aims and showed fielty to the notion of co-production and a commitment to public impact.
Collaborator Contribution The partners led the project, crafting a research agenda and a community participation element and delivered the aims of the project, maintaining a close working relationship with LL academics and collaborating on engagement activities.
Impact A touring exhibition around libraries and museums in the north of England and Northern Ireland, as well as a temporary exhibition 'Connecting Communities' at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
Start Year 2016
 
Title 3D Modelling 
Description Structure from Motion (SfM) is a relatively new and novel 'machine vision' software technique that allows us to quickly capture the 3D geometry of static features, artefacts, scenes and objects at relatively 'low cost' compared to more established survey methods (Terrestrial LiDAR, structured light scanning etc). SfM uses commercially available handheld digital cameras (DSLR) or in some cases small format camera equipped Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAV) to capture hi resolution/high megapixel colour images of the target feature and/or scene. Overlapping imagery is processed in desktop PC software or in the Cloud to calculate the 'position' of the digital camera in virtual 3D space around the object. Multiple overlapping camera positions are used to create a 'depth map' of the subject that exists in 3D space as a 'sparse point cloud'. A second software run creates a 'dense point cloud' similar in resolution and geometry to laser derived surface geometry. Finally the point cloud is meshed to create a continuous surface and the original colour imagery from the camera photos is 'draped' over the model to aid visualisation. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact Created images used in an exhibition, supported research and made available to wider public. 
URL http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/CentreforDataDigitisationandAnalysis/ServicesandOutputs/3DTech...
 
Description 'Forgotten Gaelic Volunteers' Rediscovering Ulster GAA Members who fought in the First World War 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact There was some follow-on discussion regarding the potential of the project which had been formally launched.

After the launch, we received contact from the GAA representative, who thanked us for our support and expressed a desire to collaborate in the future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/October2014/
 
Description 2016 Writers' Summer School 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Creative responses to memories and material culture of the First World War

For two days, on the banks of the Erne surrounded by the historic buildings of the Watergate, Maguire Castle and Inniskillings Barracks, the Living Legacies team worked in intense creativity with two writers groups, the Fermanagh Writers and the Omagh Robins.

The Living Legacies 2016 Writers Summer School was a new departure for the Engagement Centre. The Centre was established in January 2014 as one of five First World War Engagement Centres in the UK which work alongside community groups to explore the war period and its meaning for people today. It includes academics working at Glasgow, Newcastle, Queen's and Ulster Universities, amongst others, who have teamed with community groups, museum experts and people across the heritage and cultural sectors to produce new knowledge and understanding of the period.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.corncrakemagazine.com/article/living-legacies/#more-444%20
 
Description A Commemoration in Honour of Nurse Isabella Dixon's WW1 service in France, Serbia and Egypt 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On the evening of June 16th, the Sixmilecross community packed the Presbyterian Church Hall for a commemoration in honour of Nurse Isabella Dixon (1882-1940), who served during the First World War (FWW) in France, Germany and Egypt (1915-1920).

Local drama groups performed readings and engaged in reflections on Bella's writings: The FWW themed short play entitled: Of Bicycles and Fallow Fields, written and performed by the Omagh Robins Drama Group followed. The play is a creative response by the group to key events of Ireland's decade of centenaries, notably the First World War and the Easter Rising. Inspired by Bella Dixon's wartime diary and WW1 letters and that were brought in to digitization workshops organised by the Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre (Queen's and Ulster universities) during 2014-15, the Omagh Robins have woven historical and newly composed narrative together, crossing generations and geographies.

The multi-modal nature of the event led to useful discusson and increased understandings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2016/June2016/
 
Description AHRC & Connecting Communities festival 2015 - 'From the Falls to the Shankill - a walking tour on the history of UVF members from 1913-14 who served in the Great War'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Around a dozen people took part in a walking tour from the Falls to the Shankill on Saturday 20th June. The subject matter was the history of UVF members from West Belfast in 1913-14 who served in the British army during the First World War.
The day began with a talk at Cultúrlann on the Falls Road, from Prof. Richard Grayson, whose research on the UVF provided the data on which the walk is based. The walk then passed by the homes of 14 men who were in the UVF in 1913-14 and saw action on a range of fronts during the war. The tour included impromptu stops at First World War-related murals and other sites of interest such as the Shankill graveyard.

Throughout the day, attention was paid to the significant number of ex-UVF members who served outside the 36th (Ulster) Division, some of whom lived in the Falls. Stops included: Cupar Street, Conway Street, Canmore Street, Argyle Street, Cambrai Street and Enfield Street. For further information, see:

ArcGIS - Mapping UVF Members from West Belfast in 1913-14 who Served in the Great War
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.510643
 
Description AHRC & Connecting Communities festival 2015 - Arts for All WW1 Mural Launch, Tiger's Bay 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On 25th June, the Living Legacies team, along with Dr. Brenda Winter Palmer's talented group of young actors, were in North Belfast, to attend the official launch of a new, World War One Mural. The Arts for All group, who are well-established in North Belfast, have been working in the local area for some 15 years, using art as a means of building capacity, developing communities and strengthening community relationships.

Network member and historian Philip Orr then launched the opening of a new WW1 mural, alongside the Deputy Lord Mayor.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.511660
 
Description AHRC & Connecting Communities festival 2015 - East Belfast and the Great War 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Saturday 6th June saw Living Legacies 1914-18 visit East Belfast, for the third in our series of collaborative events with the successful East Belfast and the Great War research group. This particular event was also the first of the AHRC-sponsored, Connected Communities' festival, which runs throughout June. Other events which are part of the Festival can be found on our website.

A range of community stakeholders were present along with local and interested members of the public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.510643
 
Description Aspects Festival and The Clandeboye Reading Party, 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Living Legacies 1914-18 Project Officer,
Dr Heather Montgomery recently attended the TCD/QUB Reading Party event held at the Clandeboye estate, 12-14th September 2017.

Heather spoke about Ireland's involvement in the First World War, from the archaeological perspective, presenting findings relating to her recent doctoral studies and the First World War training camp formerly located on the Clandeboye estate.

The reading party brought together staff and students from Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, and members of the local community in collaboration with Aspects (Bangor Literary Festival, www.aspectsfestival.com), aiming to promote deeper cultural awareness and understanding of sensitive issues around war, commemoration, identity, memory, place and history.

The event was a great success, widely supported by the general public and visiting academics from both QUB and TCD.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/News/ArchivedNews/2017/September2017/
 
Description BBC World War One at Home roadshow 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Living Legacies 1914-18 engagement centre had an interactive stand at the BBC World War One at Home roadshow in Portrush, and centre researchers talked to members of the public about their family's relationships with the war.

Further contacts emerged with members of the public with links to community organisations with an interest in WWI heritage. Also closer connections forged with Imperial War Museum.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/September2014/#d.en.464966
 
Description Campbell College's Men Behind The Glass Project: Time Traveller Workshops (January/February 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Living Legacies Project Officer, Michelle Young completed a successful series of creative and interactive drama workshops with Primary schools across East Belfast as part of Campbell College's Men Behind The Glass project - a major restoration, education and community engagement initiative supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and focuses on the archives of this historic school. The Time Traveller workshops toured a number of primary schools and introduced over 500 children to some of the 127 pupils from Campbell College who were lost in WW1. The project used performance and creative techniques to explore how drama can allow young people to interact with the real life and personal stories of those young men, many of whom lived in their own localities over 100 years ago. The workshops proved to be hugely successful with pupils learning about the stories behind the men behind the glass, their lives at Campbell College and their service in the war. Teachers commented on how engaged their pupils were in the workshop and how the use of drama enhanced their learning experience, giving them an excellent insight into the sacrifice made by the young men from Campbell College.?
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://menbehindtheglass.co.uk/our-story/primary-schools-drama-workshops-get-underway
 
Description Community excavation Grey Point Fort 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Heather Montgomery (network member of Living Legacies) and the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork at Queen's and Living Legacies excavation on behalf of NIEA at Grey Point Fort. A five-week excavation programme (Monday 6th October to Monday 10th November 2014 inclusive), with two public open-days attracting 500 visitors, and 200 school children participating in the excavation as part of their school visits to the site.

Media interest.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/October2014/#d.en.467190
 
Description Connecting Communities through researching First World War Heritage 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Sustained discussion and broad channels of exploratory dialogue around the shared research agendas between and across disciplines.

Plans made for further events and networks established.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/April2015/#d.en.501166
 
Description Connecting Communities through researching First World War Heritage 15-16 April 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact On 15 and 16 April 2015, Newcastle University hosted two successful events showcasing First World War research, which were attended by over 70 people across the two days. The events were presented in association with Living Legacies and the AHRC, and were both generously supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape at Newcastle University, alongside the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal and the Newcastle Humanities Research Institute.

The first of the two events, on Wednesday 15 April, was a First World War Postgraduate Symposium, at which postgraduate researchers from 9 institutions across the UK presented their research on the First World War and its legacies. The speakers covered a wide range of fascinating topics, from literary and artistic responses to the First World War to the role of women in both war and pacifism, and from military technologies and empire to activities on the home front. The second event, which took place on Thursday 16 April, was entitled 'Connecting Communities Through Researching First World War Heritage', and brought together community and academic researchers working on projects during the First World War centenary commemorations in the North East of England. The projects showcased at the event approached the war from a range of different perspectives, and through a variety of different methods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/April2015/#d.en.501166
 
Description East Belfast and the Great War 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The workshop created some new potential research collaborations.

After the event, the database which we created for East Belfast and the Great War was populated with newly digitised data, for use in an HLF funded project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/October2014/
 
Description Entwined Histories 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact These drama workshops and lectures have begun a process of learning amongst GCSE-level pupils which will continue throughout the project

After the workshops, the pupils expressed their interest in finding out more about the local engagement with the war and the impact which it had on families.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.cooperationireland.org/node/5708
 
Description Entwined Histories Showcase 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Entwined Histories' latest event, a celebratory showcasing of young peoples' self-produced dramas, detailing their responses to the Home Front during the war.

A culmination of several weeks of work, the dramas reflected young peoples' interpretations and understandings of the many, complex components of the Home Front and were enjoyed by a full theatre audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/November2015/#d.en.538821
 
Description Entwined Histories Showcase 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact This event was a showcasing of young peoples' self-produced dramas, detailing their responses to the Home Front during the war. It followed several weeks' preparatory worm with drama facilitators. The productions, including representations of the Schoolhouse, the Shipyard, the Hospital and the Munitions Factory were enjoyed by a packed house, at the Brian Friel Theatre, part of Queen's Film Theatre. Supporting partners the Nerve Centre and Ulster Folk and Transport Museum have worked with the groups in developing their skills and knowledge over the duration of the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/November2015/#d.en.538821
 
Description Exploring our First World War Heritage 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact The evening generated a high level of interest in the various research themes of the Centre.

Communications were received regarding support for funding applications and research guidance.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/September2014/
 
Description Exploring the First World War at the Ulster Museum with Upperlands Community Development 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact As part of the AHRC Connected Communities Festival and supported by the Living Legacies Centre a group of pensioners from Upperlands Community Development Group visited the Ulster Museum on Tuesday 23rd June to discover more about the First World War and its legacies.

They brought with them many photographs and other objects relating to their own First World War histories. Objects were digitised and stories were recorded by the Centre of Data Digitisation & Analysis.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.512516
 
Description FROM THE FALLS TO THE SHANKILL - AN INTERACTIVE WALKING TOUR ON THE HISTORY OF UVF MEMBERS FROM 1913-14 WHO SERVED IN THE GREAT WAR 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This free public event explores the hidden stories of those from Belfast who fought in the Great War. The centenary of the Battle of the Somme, 2016 is a significant year in the Decade of Centenaries and the role of the 36th (Ulster) Division there was crucial. However, there is a wider story of the war to tell.
The event will incorporate a talk, given by Professor Richard Grayson (author of Belfast Boys), followed by an interactive walking tour of West Belfast, using digital mapping technologies, to plot out and visit the addresses of around a dozen men who served in the British army in WWI and who were members of the pre-war UVF, some from the Shankill and some from the Falls.
All participants emphasised how much they enjoyed the participatory aspect of the session, and of being able to see the houses/sites of where former soldiers had lived. Requests for more events like this.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2016/March2016/#d.en.566199
 
Description First World War Conservation Open Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This workshop led to the support for a grant application with Newry and Mourne museums.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/September2014/
 
Description First World War Family History Workshops at the Ulster Museum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Led by Dr Marie Coleman, Queen's University, Belfast, in partnership with the Nerve Centre, this practical workshop will introduce the various sources available for researching those that enlisted during the First World War, allowing you to build a better picture of the role played by your ancestors.

Workshop was highly commended by attendees as offering expert skills to new audiences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2016/April2016/#d.en.545189
 
Description Living Legacies 1914-18 WW1 Engagement Centre relaunch event at Down County Museum. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact We managed to forge useful relationships with existing community groups and some new organisations and are developing some work with museums in the area as a result of the relaunch.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/News/ArchivedNews/2017/March2017/
 
Description Living Legacies and Donaghadee Historical Society Roadshow 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The workshop generated interest amongst groups and individuals regarding potential research projects.

The materials which we digitised on the day were disseminated to Donaghadee Local History Group for their ongoing research into the local impact of the war.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2014/August2014/
 
Description Living Legacies and the Engagement Centres' 'Northern Tour' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The beginning of September saw the first, all-centre, collaborative series of roadshows as the teams from the five AHRC-funded WW1 Public Engagement Centres (http://ww1engage.org.uk) gathered in three venues across the North of England to connect WW1 research agendas and communities. This was an extremely successful event, with new research connections forged and plans made for future visits, activity and collaborative work.

Several small research projects have followed up with us in order to build partnerships and undertake work together. We are also planning a visit back to the North East to share best practice on commemorative practices in areas with British and Irish populations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/#d.en.525612
 
Description MEDALS ALL ROUND drama initiative 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Members of the MARRI team, Brenda Winter-Palmer and Kurt Taroff (Queen's) and Johanne Devlin Trew (Ulster) will be joined for this workshop by actors to present excerpts of the play, followed by a Q & A discussion about how drama may be used by local communities to explore the contested pasts of this island during the current Decade of Commemorations. Audience members engaged in thoughtful discussion afterward regarding how drama can be used to address sensitive issues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2016/March2016/#d.en.566199
 
Description Medal in the Drawer workshops, training and performances 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Following the successful staging of Medal in the Drawer, seven third-year students of Drama Studies at Queen's University, all leading players in the original production, trained with a professional drama-workshop facilitator. The object of the exercise was to equip these students with the skills which would enable them to go into schools and community groups to help lead young people in the devising of their own drama productions. they worked with a series of groups and schools, using drama facilitation techniques to stimulate the development of new and original forms of drama.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Military Antiques Roadshow East Belfast and the Great War 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Museums expert on hand to advise members of the public on the details of their artefacts and also how to care for them. Digitisation unit present who carefully digitised memorabilia for an online, publicly-available archive. In addition to the above activities, there were two expert lectures, both well-attended, throughout the afternoon. Firstly. C.S. Lewis author Sandy Smith, spoke about Lewis' own war experience, noting that St Mark's was his former parish. After this, East Belfast project lead Jason Burke presented some original research on Strandtown's war involvement. Jason had recently visited archives in Dublin and viewed the original letters, penned by men belonging to St Mark's Parish Church. Jason's research has been transformed into a short film, available to view here.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/February2015/#d.en.490539
 
Description Music and Memories: Remembering the First World War with music and objects 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact At Music and Memories: Remembering the First World War with music and objects, held at the Inniskillings Museum on the 25 June 2015, participants had the opportunity to explore the legacy of the period in a way that for many was new. Such was the demand for the event and we had to offer three sessions, two for the public and one for students from Devenish College. In every case, participants were mesmerised by the music and storytelling.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.512506
 
Description Music and Memories: Remembering the First World War with music and objects 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact At Music and Memories: Remembering the First World War with music and objects, held at the Inniskillings Museum on the 25 June 2015, participants had the opportunity to explore the legacy of the period in a way that for many was new. Such was the demand for the event and we had to offer three sessions, two for the public and one for students from Devenish College. In every case, participants were mesmerised by the music and storytelling.

There were several requests for similar events which used music and objects to stimulate thought.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.512506
 
Description Newcastle - Museum - Screaming Steel: Art, War & Trauma, 1914-1918 (Exhibition) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Nine established poets (including Tara Bergin; Christy Ducker; Linda France; Cynthia Fuller; W.N. Herbert; Sean O'Brien; and Ahren Warner) read their poems inspired by the Screaming Steel exhibition materials. The event was advertised through the NCLA events leaflet and website, and was very well attended by over 70 people.

Nine pieces of original work were created by the 9 poets engaging with the exhibition materials. These poems were printed and collated into a box, all of which were sold in the Hatton Gallery shop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2014/December2014/#d.en.486570
 
Description No Elephants Allowed; local history workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The event led to contact with NI War Memorial regarding some co-run events.

We plan to establish a working relationship with NIWM and to work with the Somme Museum in potentially digitising some of their collections.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/EventsJustPassed/
 
Description Poppies: Weeping Window exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact As December approaches, the Poppies: Weeping Window exhibition draws to a close. It has been extremely popular, with visitor numbers up 85.9% from November 2016 and with the most recent overall total numbering 102,991! Living Legacies involvement has been critical in engaging with groups through our Participate in Poppies programme. This has consisted of outreach through handling box sessions with groups in the five Urban Villages of Belfast and Londonderry/Derry areas with follow-up visits to the Poppies display and the Decade of Centenaries exhibition at the Ulster Museum. We have also been engaging with community groups through our sold out Sign of the Times seminar where a panel of academics, historians and writers spoke about symbols throughout history and the significance of them in today's world including our very own Project Officer Sophie Long. Films, poetry, lectures and drama were just some of the other examples of the diverse range of events that visitors could participate in. We hope to continue to build on the legacy of the Poppies display by working with these different community groups again in future projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/News/ArchivedNews/2017/November2017/
 
Description Project Launch 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Launch of Living Legacies 1914-18 Project. Alerted member of the Public and other colleagues to the remit of the project.

We received communication about further collaborations and or research support.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/
 
Description QUB Drama Students head north to 'the Bay of the Tigers' and south to the 'Town of the Book'! 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Medal in the Drawer was developed from a 90 minuter full production into a 35 minute, portable show for communities and local theatres. It was taken to Meath in the Republic, and Tiger's Bay in North Belfast where it was warmly received by all.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/June2015/#d.en.522367
 
Description Remembering 1916 | The Easter Rising, The Soome and the Politics of Memory in Ireland book launch 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Both lead authors and local historian and writer Philip Orr launched this edited volume. Launch was held locally and hosted by a BBC presenter (Crawley). Audience engaged, purchased book, requests for more information about LL centre and related projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2016/March2016/#d.en.566199
 
Description Remembering 1916: The Easter Rising, The Battle of the Somme and Impact on Lowell-A Public Engagement Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact This conference was held at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Centre in Lowell, Boston, on the September 7th & 8th.? This conference was presented in partnership with Queen's University Belfast and was an interdisciplinary look at remembering and commemorating the events of 1916 both in Northern Ireland and in Lowell.

?The Centre for Irish Partnership has fostered collaborations and partnerships with institutions in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It's slogan 'A shared heritage, a shared future,' runs along similar themes to the Living Legacies 1914-18 centre.?

The conference featured many speakers from the Living Legacies Centre. Prof Keith Lilley introduced William Blair, keynote speaker on 'Remembering 1916: Legacy & Commemoration.' William covers the NMNI 1916 Programme and the issues surrounding the legacy of 1916 in contemporary Northern Irish society. William shared some evaluation of the exhibition which is mixed but highlights the ?passions of the memory of 1916 to both the Nationalist and Unionist communities.

Prof Keith Lilley telling the delegates about the Living Legacies Centre 1914-18 and outlines the services, support and funding we provide and highlighting some of the work the centre has undertaken.

The impact of the conference was significant, with plans made for future activity with international reach.
?Dr Kurt Taroff and Sophie Long, PhD Candidate at QUB, highlighted their community engagement work they have conducted in Northern Ireland through drama and research workshops.

Heather Montgomery illustrates how her research is revealing new understandingabout the standard of training Irish recruits received. Her work on recent excavations shows the extent of the training at Finner Camp in Co. Donegal and highlights features in the cultural landscape.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2016/September2016/
 
Description Somme Centenary Heritage Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Living Legacies 1914-18 and the Somme Museum in County Down hosted a community event on Friday July 1st to commemorate the centenary of the opening of the Battle of the Somme on July 1st 1916.

The Somme Centenary Heritage Day was a free community orientated event aimed at all those interested in finding out more about the Battle of the Somme, how it impacted on local people and landscapes at the time, and what it was like on the frontline a hundred years ago.

Members of the public were invited to bring along any WW1 family-related items such as photographs, letters, postcards, diaries or other memorabilia. From Living Legacies, Elaine Reid and David Hardy were on hand using their state-of-the-art digital scanning equipment to help individuals interpret and tell a story of wartime items.

As well as bringing WW1 objects, the researchers also used new technologies to show how different types of trenches were created in the battlefields of France and Belgium. Conor Graham used an Augmented Reality Sandbox to show how trench warfare changed during the war, and how the landscape of the Somme battlefield affected how the battle was fought. Sophie Long, Keith Lilley, Tom Thorpe and Tim Bowman were also there to talk to visitors about the Somme through photographs and maps, including using 'green screen technology', while for those interested in seeing what landscapes were like in WW1, both at home and on the frontline at the Somme, Living Legacies ran a short film at the museum throughout the weekend.

Dr Tim Bowman, from the Gateways WW1 engagement centre, also gave public talks in Helen's Tower on the Clandeboye Estate, site of a WW1 training camp. A booklet about the camp and Clandeboye links to the Somme were set out in a free booklet, written by Keith Lilley, copies of which were available to all museum visitors.

The Somme Centenary Heritage Day was a great success with the Museum reporting higher than average visitor numbers compared to 2015 for July 1st.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2016/July2016/
 
Description Talk on the Ulster Home Front during the First World War 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On Monday 27 June 2016 Dr Robert Whan, Living Legacies' History Engagement Officer, gave a talk in Belfast City Library on the First World War home front in Ulster. This was part of the Belfast Somme 100 programme.

The First World War was the first conflict in which people started to talk about a home front. This was because people living and working at home were just as important to the war effort as the men fighting at the actual front. The illustrated talk examined the impact of the First World War on the domestic, economic, social and political life of Ulster, including the effect on women and children, industry and agriculture.

Dr Whan began by setting the scene by looking at Ulster on the eve of the war, including the pre-war Home Rule crisis (with the creation of the Ulster and Irish Volunteers) and the local suffrage movement. He then spoke about recruitment activities for the three new Irish divisions and the training of men in camps across the province. Conscription was never introduced in Ireland and as recruitment numbers began to decline recruiting rallies became a feature of life in Ulster.

The role of women was not neglected, and the talk included references to the service of women as professional nurses and Voluntary Aid Detachments, as well as their enrolment into the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and work in munitions. Women also collected sphagnum moss which was available in Ireland and this was used as a replacement for cotton wool. The war also had an impact on the lives of children with toys and games often becoming war-themed - dolls houses, for instance, became representations of hospital wards.

The work of farmers became more important, especially as an increasing amount of shipping coming to the British Isles was sunk by German submarines. The work of the Belfast shipyards increased and, as the war came to an end, concrete ships were produced in Warrenpoint because they used less steel which was instead required for making weapons.

In the concluding section of the talk, reference was made to how the November 1918 Armistice and the 1919 Peace Day celebrations were marked before thoughts turned to the erection of monuments and memorials and veterans' organisations such as the British Legion were formed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2016/June2016/
 
Description The Council for British Archaeology Home Front Legacy and Living Legacies 1914-18 First World War Workshop - Duxford, Cambridgeshire 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 'Living Legacies 1914-18' engagement centre is delighted to be working alongside the Council for British Archaeology's Home Front Legacy team to deliver a series of community workshops aimed at helping community groups learn how to research, record and fund their own First World War projects.

The first of these events was recently held on the 6th of October at the Imperial War Museum site, Duxford (Cambridgeshire). The event focused on the CBA's "Home Front Legacy" project, and specifically on the means of creating new knowledge about the physical impacts the First World War on local landscapes and their archaeological legacies.


A great introduction to the event and the Home Front in the First World War was provided by Historic England's Wayne Cocroft.?
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cba-and-living-legacies-first-world-war-workshop-iwm-duxford-tickets-...
 
Description Training Kitchener's New Army in Ireland (2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Admission is free but please register at belfastsommelOO.com

Heather Montgomery will describe her archaeological investigations into the training of Kitchener's New Army in Ireland, 1914-1918. Bringing together historic evidence relating to British military training, the archaeological analysis of advances in 20th century warfare, and social and cultural elements of the period. She will draw on

She will draw on recent experience of an archaeological dig at Ballykinlar camp in Summer 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Using Digital Skills to Enhance your WW1 Project 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A day-long workshop which provided upskilling for new and existing WW1 community projects. All attendees gave excellent feedback and have included digital techniques in their future work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/News/ArchivedNews/2017/November2017/
 
Description WW1 AND YOU - Objects, Memories, Resources 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The workshop created interest in further work with digital technologies

After the workshop, there will be some coverage on national television which is likely to generate communications with the Centre.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/October2014/
 
Description WW1 AND YOU - Objects, Memories, Resources Antrim Library 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Living Legacies 1914-18 team were pleased to host another WW1 and You! digitisation workshop on Wednesday May 13, 2015 in Armagh Local and Irish Studies Library. There were several talks throughout the afternoon, including an introduction to digitisation by Johanne Devlin Trew of UU, followed by William Blair of NMNI who explored the WW1 significance of the collections at the Ulster Museum. Brenda Winter-Palmer and graduating student actors from the Queen's University drama dept. then brought WW1 to life through an excerpt from Brenda's play, The Medal in the Drawer. The workshop attendees then entered into the actors' role play, putting questions to them about life in the WW1 trenches. Local Armagh historian, Joe Centre, continued with a presentation entitled, Exploring WW1 in the Community: Armagh Heroes, which looked at the involvement of several local families on the war and home fronts. There were also poetry readings and further discussion about community research projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/May2015/#d.en.507829
 
Description WW1 Museums Workshop Enler Dundonald Day Centre, East Belfast 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The leader of this elderly community group, Gerry Robinson, approached the Ulster Museum after viewing the Man who Shot the Great War BBC documentary featuring the story of George Hackney, whose war diaries and photographs we hold in our collection.

His group were very keen to explore more about this man who lived in Dundonald and more about the First World War. They see FWW and Somme murals in their local area and want to know more.

We devised a programme of sessions around exploring the FWW and around George Hackney.

An introduction to the FWW: Tours of the Answer the Call propaganda exhibition and Home Rule to partition section of the Modern History Gallery.
Exploring the Hackney diaries through FWW objects
Hackney and FWW Photography: A closer look at the Hackney photographs and stereoscopic photography
Medical Developments of the FWW: Exploring mental and physical trauma of the FWW and hackney's 'shell-shock' experience
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/February2015/#d.en.494742
 
Description WW1 and YOU: Objects, Memories and Resources Belfast Central Library 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact A showcasing of local history projects, combined with a discussion of the Centre's relevance, location and expertise within WW1 commemoration, and some thoughtful discussion. Dr. Andrew Murrison MP, the Prime's Minister's special representative for the Centenary Commemoration for the First World War was our guest and the local media covered the event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/News/ArchivedNews/2015/January2015/#d.en.487385
 
Description WW1 and You: Objects Memories, Resources Omagh 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact participants were invited to bring WW1 objects and artefacts (photographs, letters, diaries etc.) to Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park for expert museological analysis and digitisation.

Free information and advice for budding family researchers from experts in family history in order to stimulate and develop already existing interest in local war legacies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CentreEvents/ArchivedEvents/2014/November2014/#d.en.470780
 
Description WWI Today: Sharing Community Research during the Centenary of WW1 (Ulster Museum, Belfast) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact On Monday 19th June, Living Legacies played host to a number of researchers, academics and funding bodies who shared their knowledge and experience in commemorating the centenary of WW1 and its heritage in Northern Ireland.

Held at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, the event celebrated the wide variety of projects that have engaged communities in exploring the legacy of WW1. The event also connected community researchers with academics to develop closer collaborations on WW1 heritage and explained how the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) can support future projects which explore the military, cultural and societal impacts of the war upon the lives of people and communities.

Throughout the day, participants heard from groups who have successfully completed HLF-funded projects. Staff from Living Legacies were also on hand to provide expert advice to community groups who have ideas for their own WW1 Centenary projects and advisors from HLF talked through some of the practical aspects of applying for funding.

The day began with an introductory presentation by Keith Lilley from Living Legacies who explained how the WW1 Engagement Centres throughout the United Kingdom can help support local community groups in planning and resourcing their project ideas. Please click here to view presentation given on the day.? This was followed by three presentations which described some of the successfully funded projects which took place in Northern Ireland.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.livinglegacies1914-18.ac.uk/CommunityResources/News/ArchivedNews/2017/June2017/
 
Description West Belfast and the First World War 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact The talk provided a framework for engagement with schools, which our CIs will be employing in future work.

The students and staff expressed their interest in developing their knowledge in this area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014