The National Children’s Football Alliance has been awarded a £32,500 grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The money will support the Football and Peace Children’s Programme, which plans to use the 1914 ‘Christmas Truce‘ as a basis to explore the relationship between sport and the First World War.
The National Children’s Football Alliance Chairman James Lamont said: “We’re thrilled to be given this opportunity and extremely grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund for their support”.
“This project will enable young people to learn more about how their local communities were affected by the war and about how sport can help promote peace, as illustrated by the Christmas Day football game in the trenches in 1914”.
Communities from across Kent in England will research the impact of the war on local communities and also explore the significance of recreation to soldiers.
The project will culminate in a Celebration of Peace Day at Gallagher Stadium, home of Maidstone United FC, on Friday, April 25, 2014.
All research and oral histories collated during the project, run in conjunction with Kent County Council Libraries, Registration and Archives and Maidstone Museum, will be included on a new website and a documentary film produced.
Source: National Children’s Football Alliance press release
Images coutesy of the National Children’s Football Alliance website
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News