A research project which will bring together young people from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Turkey to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign has received £100,000 funding support.
Sue Bowers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London, said that the project will “help to re-establish in the public’s mind the scale of a major international campaign of the First World War that was fought on the Eastern front half a world away from the Flanders trenches”.
She also said that the project will give young people the opportunity “to tell some of the hitherto untold stories of this conflict”.
The Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 saw mainly British, Australian, New Zealand and French troops attempt an invasion of the Ottoman Empire through the Dardanelles in an effort to open up a new front in the war.
The campaign failed, with serious losses on both sides, and a withdrawal of Allied forces.
Submarine E11 returning from the Dardanelles after a successful patrol
The Gallipoli Association, which is leading the project, will help children to research the roles of soldiers in their local area who took part in the campaign.
Supported by local museums and regimental archive services, the findings will be developed into an online exhibition – with a particular focus on the personal stories of those who fought – and shared with children around the world via a dedicated website.
Lyn Edmonds, Executive Officer of the Gallipoli Association bid team, describe the project as a “landmark opportunity” to “really involve young people in education about the Great War and what it still means today”.
“We hope that schools can forge relationships with the regiments whose heritage they are exploring and can set their studies in the context of modern conflict and perhaps identify with the experience of being a soldier”.
Source: Heritage Lottery Fund press release
Images courtesy of The Gallipoli Association
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News