Category Archives: Events

Researching the First World War: Community Project Networking Event

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18 July 2016 @ Research Beehive Rm. 2.21, Newcastle University

We invite you to a networking event for community researchers working on the First World War. The event will take place on Monday 18 July 2016 at Newcastle University, and will offer an opportunity for people to meet and share their work and experiences. Heritage Lottery Fund North East will be at the event to talk about the range of First World War projects being carried out across the region, and we are delighted to welcome the Worker’s Educational Association to showcase their own project researching the WEA in the North East during the First World War.As well as these talks and the networking opportunities throughout the day, we are also offering the chance to take part in an HLF Funding Application workshop for the development of future projects. 

You can download a programme for the day here.

Attendance at the event (including lunch and refreshments) is free of charge, but places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. To reserve a place at this event, please email: fww@ncl.ac.uk by Wednesday 13 July 2016. 

The event is being hosted by the Living Legacies First World War Centenary Engagement Centre, in collaboration with the Heritage Lottery Fund, with support from Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal, and Newcastle University Humanities Research Institute. Living Legacies is one of five FWW Engagement Centres funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to connect academic and community researchers. Further details of all the Centres can be found here. 

 

Newcastle and Archangel in the First World War

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Public Lecture – 6pm, Thursday 31 March @ The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Rd, Newcastle. 

In this lecture, Professor David Saunders of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University discusses the construction of icebreakers for Russia on the Tyne, the work they did in Russia, and what happened to them in the Russian Revolution, Civil War, and in the First World War. The talk is linked to the HLF-funded project Reflections of Newcastle, 1914-1918, and is free and open to all, but you may need to contact the Lit & Phil to reserve a place by calling: (0191) 232 0192.

Transmit/Receive: Making and Experimenting with First World War Sound Technologies

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2 x Workshops, Sunday 25 October & Sunday 8 November 2015 @ Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

Join Newcastle University sound recording professionals Tim Shaw, John Bowers and Tom Schofield (all School of Arts and Cultures) over two workshops to explore and rebuild sound technologies of the First World War. The First World War was a period of great technological innovation. Many of the communication devices were developed to generate or listen to sound. From radio broadcasts to early underwater microphones, listening was a key strategy in the war effort.

Workshop One – Hydrophones and Morse Code Transmitters

Sunday 25 October, 12-3pm

At the first event you will build and use your own hydrophone (underwater microphone) and morse code transmitter. You will also explore their use during the First World War.

Workshop Two – Short-range radio transmitters and carbon granule microphones

Sunday 8 November, 12-3pm

At the second workshop you will build and use your own short-range radio transmitter and carbon granule microphone. You will also explore their use during the First World War.

Price
Workshops are £6 each (plus online booking fee). Advance booking is essential.

Places for workshops are limited. Each session covers different making activities – you are encouraged to attend both although you can also attend one or the other.

No prior specialist or technical knowledge is needed to attend and materials are included in the price.

All attendees must be aged 16 and over to attend. 

For more information and to book tickets, please visit: 

https://discoverymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/transmit-receive

Sing and Dance for King and Country

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Installation – Rachael Hales, Newcastle University

3pm, Friday 11 September @ Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum

Sound artist Rachael Hales will be presenting her audio-visual installation exploring the experiences of local people during the First World War, through the lens of local folk traditions and practices. Rachael will be presenting the findings of her research into Rapper Dancing, Clog Dancing and Children’s Song on Tyneside during the First World War, alongside the three audio-visual artworks that she created in response to this research. This project is part of Decoded 1914-18, commissioned by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums and the Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice, which involved seven artists producing creative responses to the First World War collections held by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.

The event is presented as part of the Heritage Open Days at Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum: The Chantry, Bridge Street, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1PJ.

About the Installation:

Sing and Dance for King and Country is an audio-visual installation exploring the experiences of the people of Tyneside during the First World War, through the lens of local folk traditions and practices. It explores how various folk practices – including rapper dancing, clog dancing, and folksong – can be used to investigate the experiences of war of three groups of people: the rapper dancers of the North East, female munitions workers, and children. Move through the installation in the footsteps of the singers and dancers of 100 years ago, uncovering forgotten and untold stories of how the ordinary people of Tyneside danced and sang their way through the First World War. This installation was presented in collaboration with Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle Upon Tyne in February 2015, and at the Chantry Bagpipe Museum, Morpeth in April 2015 as part of the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering.

About the composer:

Rachael Hales is a sound artist, composer and performer, currently studying for a Ph.D. in composition at Newcastle University. Her work investigates ways in which environmental and everyday sounds can interact with musics of place, particularly folk and traditional music, to perform, represent or portray a sense of place. Recent work has included a commission for the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering, exploring the Anglo-Saxon history of Morpeth; an audio-visual piece portraying Rachael’s experience of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle Upon Tyne; and a sound installation entitled ‘Listening to the Border: a sonic exploration of the construction and performance of identity in the Scottish borders’. Rachael is also a busy folk musician, performing regularly at ceilidhs.

Your Community in the First World War: A Roadshow

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10 September 2015 @ Lindisfarne Room, Newcastle University

How did the First World War affect your community? Do you know where the people named on your war memorial fought and died? What was life like for those who went away to fight? What happened to those who stayed at home? Did the First World War change things for women? Industry? Social welfare? What was its global impact and how did colonial troops experience it?

We invite you to explore your community’s connection with the First World War and meet up with others already doing so. This event will bring together community groups and other organisations who are working on projects around the heritage of the First World War, or who are interested in developing such a project. There will be an opportunity to share experiences, explore possible sources of funding (especially the Heritage Lottery Fund), exchange ideas, and learn about free support and resources, including how and where you can showcase your findings online.

This roadshow is co-hosted by the five First World War engagement centres funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Each centre represents a network of academic support and has various areas of expertise regarding First World War research. You can access their support when developing your own projects. For further information on these centres see here: http://ww1engage.org.uk

We will also be offering an opportunity at this event to learn how to digitise, record and preserve your community’s stories and memorabilia. The availability of this opportunity will be based on demand, so if you are interested in taking part in this digitisation workshop, please register for this when booking the event. You will be asked to submit a short statement of what materials (photographs, letters, diaries etc.) you would like to have digitised and how it would benefit you and/or your community group.

Places at this event is free, but limited, so book early to ensure a place.
Go to: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/first-world-war-engagement-centres-8220847914

For more information or to book a place on a digitisation workshop after booking an event contact Dr Sam Carroll, Community Heritage Researcher, Gateways to the First World War. Email: S.J.Carroll@kent.ac.uk

Download the flyer for the Roadshow here.

Women & the First World War (1910-1930) – Call for Papers

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17 September 2015 @ Newcastle University

Keynote Address: Professor Alison Fell (Leeds), ‘Back to the Front: French and British Female Veteran Groups in the 1920s’

This interdisciplinary symposium will showcase research on any aspect of women’s history in relation to the First World War. We welcome papers on the role and place of girls and women both during the war and also in the years leading up to the outbreak of hostilities and in the decade after. For example, how did literature for girls before the war prepare children for war? How were women involved in pacifist groups? What kinds of work did women do during the war? How were women and girls involved in memorialisation activities? What is the relationship between spiritualism, war and gender politics? Do new transnational paradigms complicate our understanding of women and war? What role did women play in journalism during the war? These are indicative questions only – the symposium is intended to share and develop research on women and the First World War. Papers from a range of fields – including Literature, History, Archaeology, Geography, Politics, Film and Media, Modern Languages, History of Medicine, and Law – are encouraged.

Please send abstracts of 150 words for 20-minute papers to fww@ncl.ac.uk by 15 July 2015.

This event is supported by the North East Research Forum for First World War Studies, the Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre, the Gender Research Group (Newcastle) and the Military, War & Security Research Group (Newcastle).

Conference Organisers: Stacy Gillis & Emma Short

Download a PDF version of the Call for Papers here.

Durham University Officers’ Training Corps, Stobs camp, 1914, Durham University Library Special Collections, Ref: MIA 1/307

Universities at War – Lottery grant awarded to mark First World War Centenary

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A new project to tell the lost stories of Newcastle and Durham University staff and students who fell during the First World War has been awarded £7,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Both universities invite anyone interested in learning more about the project to an open event at Newcastle University’s Robinson Library at 6pm on 25 June.

The Universities have received the Lottery grant for their project ‘Universities at War: Chronicling the Fallen of Newcastle and Durham Universities (1914 – 1918)’. Awarded through HLF’s First World War: then and now programme, the project focuses on expanding on the work of staff and students from both universities to tell the stories of their fallen alumni by working with volunteers across the region and beyond.

With help from heritage professionals, the information gathered by volunteers will be digitally recorded in an online memory book which everyone can access and contribute to. Research into these important stories will be promoted through public events and an exhibition in 2017 showcasing the work of the volunteers. Both Universities will also work with local schools to help young people understand the local impact of the conflict and develop the skills to research their own memorials.

Commenting on the award, Newcastle University Archivist Ian Johnson said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund to engage the public in the important aim to make these fallen more than just names on a memorial. As many of these fallen were local and the commemorations have sparked everyone’s interest nationally, we know the experts are in our communities and we want them to get in touch to make this a success through credited contributions.”

Ivor Crowther, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund North East, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. In this Centenary year we’re pleased to fund this project which will provide a truly personal link to the conflict and ensure the stories of Durham and Newcastle alumni are heard and remembered.”

The work done so far is available to view at http://memorial.ncl.ac.uk/ and https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/roll/. Volunteers are also welcome to get in touch through contact details available on these sites.

Image: Durham University Officers’ Training Corps, Stobs camp, 1914, Durham University Library Special Collections, Ref: MIA 1/307.

First World War Symposia at Newcastle University

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On 15 and 16 April 2015, Newcastle University hosted two very 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 final programme for the event can be found here.

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. These included the artistic and creative responses of Applied Comics Etc. (Newcastle University), Wor War (YMCA North Tyneside), Wor Women on the Home Front (Tyneside Women’s Health & Curiosity Creative), and Decoded 1914-18 (Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums). Alongside these, several projects focused on using digital technologies to either map the impact of the First World War on the region, to digitize and preserve archival materials, to investigate and record the lives of those featured on local war memorials, and to preserve the memorials themselves. These projects included: Durham at War (Durham County Council & Record Office); Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project; Northumberland at War (Northumberland Archives); The Universities at War and the Armstrong Memory Book (Dr Jane Webster of Newcastle University); and CARE of War Memorials in North East England (Dr Myra Giesen of Newcastle University). In addition to detailed and informative presentations from representatives of these projects, the event also featured a presentation from Dr Keith Lilley and Dr Paul Ell, PI and Co-I of Living Legacies at Queen’s University Belfast, as well as a stimulating keynote on non-invasive landscape archaeology of the First World War in Flanders from Professor Veerle van Eetvelde of the University of Ghent. The event concluded with a lively roundtable discussion in which community and academic researchers developed initial plans for future collaborations. The final programme for this event is available here.

First World War – Postgraduate Symposium

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15 April 2015 @ Research Beehive, Newcastle University

The centenary of the First World War has prompted an immense amount of research investigating the events of 1914-1918 and the legacies of the War. Postgraduate research in particular is at the forefront of new and exciting directions in First World War studies. This interdisciplinary symposium showcases some of the fascinating work being undertaken by postgraduate researchers  on the First World War and its aftermath.

This event contributes to the AHRC-funded Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre programme, in which Newcastle University is a partner organisation. The Newcastle event is supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mccordcentre/), and the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal/).

Please find a draft programme for the event here: First World War PG Symposium – Draft Programme. Attendance at this event is free, and a complementary lunch will be provided. Please register here by Tuesday 7 April 2015.

Connecting Communities Through Researching First World War Heritage

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16 April 2015 @ Research Beehive & Great North Museum, Newcastle University

A one-day symposium to be held at Newcastle University on Thursday 16 April 2015. This event brings together community projects and academic researchers working across the North East, and features a keynote address from Professor Veerle Van Eetvelde on her work on First World War landscapes in Belgium.

We invite anyone interested in the First World War and its heritage to join us at the event. Attendance is free, and lunch and refreshments will be provided. To register, please contact Emma Short by Tuesday 31 March 2015.

This event contributes to the AHRC-funded Living Legacies 1914-18 Engagement Centre programme, in which Newcastle University is a partner organisation. The event is supported by the McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural Landscape, and the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal.

Please find a draft programme for the event here: Connecting Communities – Draft Programme.