Heritage Lottery Fund awards £10,000 to Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council, Ingestre Hall and Anson Primary School to mark First World War Centenary
Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council, Ingestre Hall and Anson Primary School has received £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a project on the “Affects of World War I on the people of Ingestre, Tixall and the surrounding area”. Awarded through HLF’s First World War: then and now programme, the project will focus on the effects of the First World War on Ingestre & Tixall residents and their relatives, and a field hospital experience in the cellars of Ingestre Hall.
To mark the Centenary of the First World War, the effects of the First World War on Ingestre & Tixall residents and their relatives, will be researched using material from the diary of William Towers Mynors who lived in Tixall and was Private Secretary to the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury of Ingestre Hall, names on the two War Memorials at Ingestre & Tixall, material at Staffordshire County Record Office and the Staffordshire’s Museum at the High House, Stafford, and family histories. These will then be displayed in a semi-permanent exhibition in Ingestre Orangery available to view in conjunction with the adjacent Ingestre Church which houses the Ingestre War memorial and Viscount Ingestre’s Monument and Grave.
Research volunteers will study what effect World War I had on local people in Tixall & Ingestre: What information from the front reached them; What effect the war had on their daily lives; Research on those named on the War Memorial at Tixall and the military career of Viscount Ingestre, buried at Ingestre; Lord Shrewsbury’s role in collecting horses for the army at Ingestre Stables, and then organising the defence of Liverpool; What they saw and reported about the Brocton Camp on Cannock Chase; and the recent excavation of the Messine Terraine Model at Brocton Camp.
Felix Pepler, Head of Ingestre Hall Arts Centre belonging to Sandwell Council, and Edward Howard, Head of Anson Primary School at Gt Haywood are Partners in the project on behalf of their respective organisations. The project will engage children at Anson Primary School and Sandwell children visiting Ingestre Hall to participate in the replica WWI Field Hospital experience to be constructed in part of the cellars of Ingestre Hall. This will involve clearing and repainting the cellars, and introducing relevant artefacts such as 4 metal beds (kindly donated by Stafford Prison), bandages, and other medical equipment. The sounds of the era will be recreated in the cellars. The children will help devise mini dramas depicting stories associated with the Field Hospital including those about patients with loss of limbs and shell shock.
A project website will be set up giving further information and showing the results of research. The site will have links to other projects in the area.
Anyone interested in helping with the project either with the research, or with information or artefacts for the Field Hospital, e.g. old bandages, please contact Anne Andrews. Tel: 01785 246101 Email [email protected]
The exhibition in Ingestre Orangery will include extracts from the diaries of William Towers Mynors who lived in Tixall and was Private Secretary to the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury of Ingestre Hall by kind permission of his grandson, Mr Peter Mynors. These are not normally available to the public.
The information gathered will be digitally recorded and an on-line archive will be created where everyone can access and contribute information. The archive will allow the public to discuss, contribute, share and research information about the effect of WWI on people living in the area.
The Field Hospital will enable children from Sandwell and Anson School, and members of the public to understand the kind of problems suffered by WWI soldiers, e.g amputations and shell shock.
Commenting on the award, Dr Anne Andrews, Project Co-ordinator, said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund to enable us to carry out this exciting project.”
Reyahn King, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching every corner of the UK. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already invested more than £58million in projects – large and small – that are marking this Centenary. Our small grants programme is enabling even more communities like those involved in this project to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”
