National Lottery support for Levens Local History Group to mark First World War Centenary

Levens Local History Group has received a National Lottery grant of £5100 for its project ‘Levens in WWI’. Awarded through the Heritage Lottery Fund’s First World War Then and Now programme, the project focuses not merely on the servicemen whose lives are commemorated on the war memorial at St. John the Evangelist Church in Levens, but also on those who survived the conflict and returned to the area, as well as the role of the women, children and men who stayed at home and aided the war effort.

An exhibition, to be held in both St. John’s and Levens Institute with refreshments in Levens Methodist Chapel, will be held over the weekend of 10 & 11 November to mark the Centenary of the First World War. This will complement Levens Parish Council’s display of commemorative poppies, which can be seen in the centre of the village. The project will enable local people to come together to preserve the memories and heritage of the people who lived through the First World War. Volunteers have collected photographs, newspaper clippings, documents, keepsakes, letters and photographs, as well as family tales, which have enabled them to build a clear picture of what life was really like.

Items of interest will include; the story of Peggy, a Levens horse taken to the front to serve an artillery officer, and later repatriated from Salonika, and Lady Bagot’s Hospital of Friendship, which served the allied armies in Belgium and France, and was supported by many local donations and fund-raising appeals.

With help from professionals, the information gathered will both form an on-line interactive archive where everyone can access and contribute information, which will allow the public to discuss, contribute, share and research information about WWI and the Home Front, and will also be made available through a book to be published in 2019.
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Thanks go to the National Lottery players throughout the country whose contributions have brought history to life in a small part of Cumbria.