BBC Radio needs your WWI stories

To mark the centenary of the start of WW1 next year, over the next few months local BBC radio stations will be creating lots of short radio pieces based on stories linked to places in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

The project is called ‘WW1 at Home’.

Colin Hyde and Sally Horrocks will be helping the BBC to find stories and provide background context for them.

If you have an interesting story about WW1 that can be linked to a local place…

(that has a postcode that can be tagged on a map) they are interested in hearing from you.

The story can be on any topic and the only stipulation is that the ‘place’ can’t be a museum, library or archive unless it is directly involved in the story. Just having an object isn’t enough, that object must be related to a place in the community that could be part of the story. Every story that is featured will be available to view on the BBC website so there needs to be existing visual material, or the potential to generate material if (for example) buildings etc are still in existence. The BBC are keen on stories that are either of the ‘I didn’t know that!’ type or that make people see familiar places in new ways through their association with WW1.

Although it can’t be promised that every story will get turned into a radio programme, this could be a great chance to get something from your local area onto the radio.

The East Midlands Oral History Archive are also collecting stories for further on into the commemorations, as plans for the years up to 2018 are still being made.

Find out more…

Please call Colin Hyde on 01162 525 065 or email ch38@le.ac.uk for further information.

Find out more about The East Midlands Oral History Archive here.