We promoted the fascinating WWII history the area has to offer: not everything in Sherwood Forest is Robin Hood!

We launched a tourism website including a promotional video and individual sections for eight sites directly linked to WWII history. The website includes a map, links to each site and information about the stories they have to share and what visitors can expect to see.

We worked with university students and local volunteers to research a broad range of WWII themes to write interesting articles that we shared on our project blog site.

We published regular blogs and sought people with local family stories to tell and share. Whether a personal account, or something an individual had a keen interest in which they wanted to share, a diverse range of subjects have been researched and written about.

These helped to develop research skills and writing for an audience for our students, and brought fascinating narratives to the community too of course!

Read the blogs here

We worked with Mercian Archaeology Services CIC to record the archaeological evidence of military activity in a number of sites across the area including the RSPB Visitor Centre, Ransom Wood and Thoresby Estate.

Features included train platforms, munition storage pits, a communication centre and a tank wash.  Volunteers of all ages and abilities joined our archaeology days. The results of this research can be found in the archaeology report.

We offered courses to people who wanted to research their family history, especially those who’s relative served in the armed forces during WWII or who had documents or letters which were difficult to read.

We had a palaeography course (reading historic handwriting) and an RAF focused genealogy course (using documents and service records).

We also trained Residential Care Home Activity Coordinators in oral history techniques to help capture spoken stories and reminiscences from their residents.

We facilitated reminiscence and oral history sessions with local residential care home residents to record their memories of WWII in Sherwood Forest on the Home Front or in service.

We also recorded all memories and family stories shared with us at public events, via email, or in post-talk discussions. These first-hand narratives were used to underpin all other strands.

We curated monthly on-line talks given by visiting experts covering a diverse range of topics related to Sherwood Forest’s WWII heritage and beyond.  These included the Lumber Jills, ration book cooking, VJ Day and the Burma campaign, the Polish War, and many more.

We also partnered with local amateur historians, community leaders, and experts to better understand the impact of WWII on the area, its landscapes, and communities.

We shared this research through public engagement, exhibitions, education opportunities, and a “scrapbook” giving an oversight of the project and its findings.

We worked with schools, colleges and home education networks to provide learning and engagement opportunities with the project in several ways including facilitating trips to museums, evacuee day experiences and in-school activities. We also partnered with other projects and organisations to provide hands-on experience days and learning activities.

We used the oral histories collected from local elderly residents to inform creative responses and worked with care homes and schools to connect young and old.

We used research about POWs and Displaced Persons in the region, and our partnership with the National Holocaust Museum, to lead sessions for young people about identity, tolerance, and diversity.

We used our research and oral history testimonies to create educational resources in partnership with the M2M project.

Download free education resources about local WWII history based on the Spirit of Wartime Sherwood project’s research, supporting local history and cross curricular links.