Our exclusive visit

On the 29^th March 2014 the Walking in their Shoes Project group got a sneak preview of the Bovington Tank Museum War Horse Exhibition.

The group really enjoyed the visit scoring the session a 9.9 and enjoyed being the first group to view the Exhibition and give feedback that was appreciated by heritage professionals who told us it will help them tweak and develop the exhibits and presentation – so young people’s views at heart of exhibition development.

One of the group said “The new exhibition was really interesting it was good to compare with WiTS” They impressed the exhibition officer Sarah Lambert with their knowledge of WW1 and tanks, Sarah Lambert said – “the group is very knowledgeable” and she also gave us some very positive feedback on our tank cache that will form part of our interactive heritage trail Walking in a First World War One Soldiers Shoes. Sarah Lambert is keen to be one of the first to trial it.

The group were then treated to lunch in the museum canteen and celebrated being V.I.Ps during a very enjoyable day.

 These horses will talk as you walk by .

There are the sound's of battle in the inter-active displays .

A fine body of young soldiers!

Trench Art with a twist

Today we did some trench art crafting and made two characters to do with the first world war. Our aim was to make some First World War characters  (above picture left), who will be travel bugs that will sit in our cache boxes and get taken by the public around Europe to important sites linked to the First World War.... but then as time wore on we went bananas and made some very creative pieces!

The cache creators were working hard in the back room and upstairs getting stuff finished before our busy next seven days that includes a preview of the new Warhorse exhibition at the Bovington Tank Museum, A walk with the Bishop of Sherborne on Tuesday then the Dorset History Center and finishing up next Thursday at the The Keep Military Museum of Devon and Dorset to check our research and story interpretation. So some sensible work did get done!

Here are the events for this month and what's going on ! 

War Horse Exhibition Special WiTS Sneek Preview Bovington Tank Museum Saturday 29th March 2014 meet at Routes time to be confirmed followed   by WiTS walk.

Walk with the current Bishop of Sherborne 1st April 10.30 car park of Maiden Castle and bring picnic finish 3:30 pm

Meet the expert - Dorset History Centre Anglo-Saxons briefing and archives tour, 1st April, 4 pm -6 pm 

meet there at 3:50 pm Bridport Road, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1RP

WiTS workshop at Military Keep Museum checking the cache cards Thursday 3rd April 10 am – 1 pm

2 x Dorset County Museum St Aldhelm Workshop 8th or 9th April plus one in May (Dates to be confirmed)

Oral History Training delivered by the hub team to Care Home South activity coordinators and care staff 1st May 10:30  am 12:30 (date to be confirmed.)

Today we had a visit from Brian Bates an author of a book we are using extracts from for our research and he kindly gave us some material to use on our cards in our geocaches. we also found a link to a clip about the German Prisoner of war camp in Dorchester. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-24906894

Jack and Ray holding a copy of Portait Of An Era A history of Britain 1900 - 1945.

Brian Bates book on war history in Dorchester which he kindly let us use extracts from.

Rosie recommends this Horrible history book on the First World War. "Some bits are quite funny & naughty" By frightful first World War splats hats & lofts of RATS!!!!

Jack Welch Columnist for the Dorset Echo Town Talk section gets people talking about us again

 

DT1 Town Talk: Walking in their Shoes project discovers interesting historical facts 12:00pm Wednesday 26th February 2014 in News

The past month for the Heritage Lottery Funded project Walking in their Shoes has seen the team take up their deerstalkers and magnifying glasses, as their latest research begins to uncover the latest clues and are now seeing some very exciting results of our investigations.

Some of our best discoveries this month include the revelation Dorchester had one of the largest German Prison of War camps in the country, with an estimated 5,000 inmates at its peak, nearly half the town’s population at the time.

With 2014 marking the significant centenary since the UK declaring war on Germany, we are keen to make as many findings as possible about this important narrative of Dorset’s role in the war.

We also found out Routes, 5 North Square, Dorset Youth Association’s Advice and Information Café where we meet, was a lodging home for off duty soldiers and a popular car servicing company next door was a hotspot for refreshments and sanctuary when they were not on the frontline.

We know that the home was first opened in 1888 by the Church and Temperance Societies and tried to make a warm, comforting place for soldiers and to encourage them to stay out of the pubs.

As young people we encourage each other to do the same today.

Meet Some of the Team

Welcome to some members of the "Walking in Their Shoes"  Team. Our first volunteer is Jonathan the graphic designer.

Liz is our volunteer support worker.

Douglas is our diary coordinator and history researcher.

Ashley is our volunteer military history researcher and Microsoft ICT mentor.

Rosie is the volunteer librarian and history researcher.

Julia is the volunteer support worker.

Micheal is our volunteer Facebook coordinator.

Edward is our volunteer web developer and Microsoft Hub ICT mentor.

James is our volunteer history researcher and Microsoft Hub ICT mentor.

Imogene is our volunteer press officer and history researcher.

Beki is our volunteer press officer and copy editor.
















And then there's me, Ben. I'm the volunteer photographer and Microsoft Hub mentor.