The Programme:
10.00: Arrival and Coffee
10.30: Welcome and Introduction: Janet Tall, Head of Archives and Local Studies, South West Heritage Trust
Heidi Watson-Jones, Project Co-Ordinator, Devon Remembers
10.45: Paula Clarke, Community Engagement Officer, Castle Drogo: Castle Drogo Building Work: Inspiring a New Approach to Learning
11.20: Peter Mason, The Lustleigh Society, Dartmoor Life in the First World War
Peter will talk about the research and development of the Dartmoor Life in the First World War exhibition which is running until September at the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre in Princetown.
12.00: Comfort Break
12.10: Dr.David Parker, Devon and the First World War and Exeter: Remembering 1914-18
David will talk about the research which led to the development of the arguments in his two books about the impact upon Devon of the war.
12.50: James Wallis, First World War Research Co-ordinator for the South West, University of Hertfordshire First World War Engagement Centre: The Food and Farming in Wartime Devon Project
1.00: Lunch
There is a café in Great Moor House and a larger one, the Fresha café, about five minutes’ walk away. There is also a pub, the Barn Owl, on the other side of the Honiton Road. However, it may be preferable to bring your own lunch.
2.00: Jo Loosemore, BBC Radio Devon: World War One at Home
Jo will talk about how the First World War affected local people and places, and how the BBC told their stories on radio, TV and online.
3.00: Close
The Speakers:
Paula Clarke is the Community Engagement Officer for the National Trust at Castle Drogo. Her role is funded by the major restoration work currently underway where she is working to achieve the aim of ‘making Drogo a much loved local place’. Her work involves outreach, project based activities with local groups and exploring learning opportunities. Paula has been at Castle Drogo for nine years in a variety of roles including Volunteer Co-ordinator until taking on her current role in November 2012.
Peter F. Mason has curated the current exhibition about life on Dartmoor during WW1 for the Dartmoor Trust and the Dartmoor National Park which is on show until September at the Princetown Visitors’ Centre. He is Chairman of the Lustleigh Society which manages the Lustleigh Community Archive and a former national committee member of the Community Archives and Heritage Group. He is the compiler of a series of features for the Dartmoor Magazine on Dartmoor Life in Old Photographs.
David Parker is a retired Headteacher. He has written and researched extensively on 20th century British social history, and his books include The People of Devon in the First World War, which was Devon Book of the Year in 2014, and Exeter: Remembering 1914-18.
James Wallis is currently completing his doctoral research at the University of Exeter as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded collaborative partnership with Imperial War Museums London. This is examining key permanent and temporary First World War exhibitions held within the museum over a fifty year timeframe.
In November 2014, he was appointed Associate Research Fellow at the University's History Department. Focusing specifically on the
South West, this research co-ordinator post feeds into the University of Hertfordshire's AHRC-funded First World War Engagement Centre, 'Everyday Lives in War'. This aims to connect academic and community research on particular themes relating to the conflict, as part of its centenary commemorations.
Jo Loosemore produces World War One at Home (in partnership with Imperial War Museums) and the Listening Project (in partnership with the British Library and BBC Radio 4) for BBC Radio Devon. She previously worked as Education Projects Manager for the Theatre Royal Plymouth and Community History Officer for Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.