Trebrys Posted 12 November , 2013 Share Posted 12 November , 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-24478082 Ysgol Maes Garmon, a Welsh-medium secondary school in Mold, Flintshire has just been awarded a £10,000 donation from the National Lottery to help drive forward a project into the effects of WW1 to the community as a whole. I believe we are the only school in Britain to have been awarded such a grant. Without expecting you to do any of the work for us, could the experts within the Forum suggest local (Flintshire) aspects that we could and should cover as part of the project so that we can do justice to the commemoration of the conflict, please? The work will be done by school pupils ranging from 11-18 years of age and so they will have little or no experience with the conflict apart from when we have a poppy selling drive around November every year. It is our intention to fill the vacuum in the pupils' understanding of the war and every department in the school will be contributing something to the project. As some of you may remember, I try to incorporate as many aspects of WW1 into my lessons (as I am an anorak!!), but also because of the value I perceive in studying this conflict. Two weeks next year (around May/June) will have the school showing the findings of its research in an exhibition to be held at Clwyd Theatr Cymru. We want to involve as many pupils as we can into the project, which will run from 2014 to 2018, but the immediate focus is this exhibition to be held at the said theatre in Mold. A group of our pupils, whose ancestors fought in the First World War, will travel down to the Senedd in Cardiff tomorrow (Wednesday) to greet Mr Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, who will officially launch the project. Diolch yn fawr iawn / Thank you very much for your attention, Trebrys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 12 November , 2013 Share Posted 12 November , 2013 The usual suspects, I suppose. Who went? Who died? Who did they serve with - which units? Where did they live? Where did they work? Where had they gone to school? Who was left behind? What are the memorials? What documents remain in the local archive or are still held by family? How was industry affected? How did recruiting go? What about conscientious objectors? What did women do? What was life like on the home front? What about food rationing etc? How did the local press cover the war? What local charities raised funds for the local troops or the general war effort? What medical services were provided locally for the wounded servicemen? What did the town council(s) do? What about (foreign) aliens? Hope this helps. Only intended as food for thought... Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin spof Posted 12 November , 2013 Admin Share Posted 12 November , 2013 Another idea.... What happened to the men and village after the war? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 12 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 12 November , 2013 Many thanks to you both for your input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 12 November , 2013 Share Posted 12 November , 2013 How the great war affected the Welsh language? I remember a documentary on this done by S4C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 12 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 12 November , 2013 Thanks for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive_hughes Posted 12 November , 2013 Share Posted 12 November , 2013 Sources: I take it you'll be going over to Hawarden and the Record Office for the Flintshire Cards and other material? Newspapers are going to give a detailed picture of what was going on locally, whether regarding the servicemen; (war-related) crime and misbehaviour; adverts; food prices and other issues; agriculture; social issues; military service tribunals; the early reactions of the various religious denominations and so on. The Bangor University Archives (whose remit covers the whole of North Wales) have some interesting material, including papers gathered by Tom Jones for a proposed 1920s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace volume on Wales and the war. This has agricultural and industrial aspects amongst other things. There is a volume by Nicholson & Lloyd Williams: Wales Its part In The War (Hodder,1919) but though there might be something about Flintshire it's a propaganda piece, and skips very lightly over some important issues while devoting lots of space to the war work of the Prince of Wales etc. The IWM London's Dept. of Printed Books has local womens war work collections, and similar material relating to Belgian refugees. They might be able to tell you if there's anything from Flintshire / Mold in them. The 1918 Absent Voters Lists for the county are I think available at the National Library of Wales if not locally. Between these, the 1911 Census, the Flints. Cards, and available service records/lists of war dead you might be able to asses the impact on any given area in terms of how many served, what proportion were killed/injured etc. You probably have a copy of the 1931 Imperial War Graves Commission published register of the war graves in Flintshire, but if not let me know. There may be other aspects, but can't think at the moment! Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 13 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2013 Diolch o galon again! No I don't have a copy of the 1931 book mentioned! Thanks for your ever-detailed input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3rn Posted 13 November , 2013 Share Posted 13 November , 2013 One hundred years ago, today... Might be a good way to present local info in context. Faces, finding photos of your local service men and women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 13 November , 2013 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2013 Thanks b3m! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 24 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 24 February , 2014 Noswaith dda bawb / Good evening all, This is just an update on what is going on at the school as regards the project and a notification of a kind request for assistance (if possible) on certain threads concerning a few of the things turned up by us. The intention is to put together a bilingual (Welsh/English) book/booklet covering some folk who have links with the school whose family was affected directly by the conflict - and this in turn has involved pupils, teachers, cleaners, cooks and the caretaker! We've also loosely included things to do with matters local and intend to incorporate a few stories of folk from the Mold area, as the school itself is only fifty years old. So far, we have received around 45 accounts of people directly involved with the period, including the discovery of a detailed and previously unseen diary of a Glaswegian great-grandfather of a (Welsh) pupil in our Sixth Form and the amazing tale of a local man who created a new life for himself in France after the war. Family photographs have seen the light of day again from suitcases in attics and from within piles of forgotten papers crammed in cupboard drawers. We've uncovered a variety of tales in several arenas of battle, some of which include France and Flanders, Italy, Salonika, Gallipoli, Russia and the Middle East. A well-known Welsh composer has agreed to come in and help the pupils produce a piece of music based on the information unearthed and a film will be produced by a professional company to record some of the findings made. In fact, every department in the school is involved in the project and the intention is to display all at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in June. All in all, it is very exciting at school and the people hired to help set out the book have been blown away by the volume and variety of tales and artefacts brought in by all. The spectre of examinations floats above us constantly and so we are very grateful to these people who are helping us out with this project as our focus has to be with these external tests over the next few months. I will post a further update before long and hope that the "experts" out there will find the work of our pupils to their liking. Diolch o galon / Thank you very much, Trebrys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 24 February , 2014 Share Posted 24 February , 2014 Nosweth dda! This project sounds excellent. As an ex-history teacher at this very fine school - If you require any help - pm me. You ARE going with the 5th RWF Terriers at Gallipoli surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 24 February , 2014 Author Share Posted 24 February , 2014 Gallipoli? Only if you pay Geraint! I intend to be at the unveiling near Ypres/Ieper in August though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 20 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2014 For a few days this week at the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold there will be an exhibition of items brought in by pupils of our school based on the family history of their ancestors who were involved in the First World War. A professionally produced bilingual book costing £5 with articles by the pupils will be on sale...written by the pupils themselves...recording the involvement of their family in the war. Some marvellous artefacts will be on display ranging from diaries, photographs and various other documents from the period. A DVD (in Welsh) costing £3 will also be on sale with some of the pupils relating their family history with WW1. Some help was given by some of the Forum's members to whom we are very grateful. Tomorrow will also be the premiere of a specially composed song by a choir of our pupils...which will be added onto this site soon. It was composed with the help of Caryl Parry Jones, the Welsh TV personality...and it is well worth hearing! So...if you are in the Mold area tomorrow...and over the next few days...pop into the Daniel Owen Centre and have a look at the work done by our pupils honouring the sacrifices made by men and women of the district. Entry is free! Dewch yn llu! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asanewt Posted 20 June , 2014 Share Posted 20 June , 2014 Look forward to that, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebrys Posted 21 June , 2014 Author Share Posted 21 June , 2014 http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2014-06-20/project-to-bring-teenagers-closer-to-first-world-war/ A taster of yesterday's preparation for today's official opening covered by ITV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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