Warwickshire at War opens at Warwick museum

Gloucester Cycle Regiment lined up with their bicycles in the Parade, Leamington.

Warwickshire at War, which will be in place for four years to mark the length of the 1914-1918 conflict, launches at the St John’s House Museum tomorrow (Saturday August 9), during the week when the nation commemorated 100 years since the outbreak of the war on August 4 1914.

Put together by volunteers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum housed within the St John’s building, working with the county council’s Heritage Education department, the exhibition will displays historical collections detailing personal, and often emotional, stories of people in the county during the war - including letters home from Warwickshire men and women serving on or near the Front, the stories of Belgian refugees who fled to Rugby and objects that have not yet been seen by the public.

The volunteers, who were able to carry out their research thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, have spent the past nine months working on the project.

Two soldiers, Greaves and Morris Snr, with a small boy in Long Itchington.

To celebrate the launch tomorrow, the museum is hosting a day of activities between 10am and 4pm - including a simulation of the ‘Christmas Truce’ football match between English and German soliders in December 1914, a museum trail and ‘make and take’ craft sessions. Most activities, which run on a drop-in basis, are free but there is a £2.50 charge for the ‘make and take’ activities.

To find out more about these and the exhibition, visit heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk or warwickfusiliers.co.uk

To learn more about the volunteers’ research, visit the exhibition blog at warwickshireatwar.wordpress