National Coal Mining Museum to look at the Great War

Lest we forget invites people to join local history experts for a day of sharing stories on February 11.

It is part of the ‘A Parish At War’ project with the Parish of Middlestown with Netherton in Wakefield.

There will be a programme of talks at the museum in Overton, Wakefield that aim to inspire curiosity and provoke new thought. Stallholders from local and family history societies will also be available throughout the day.

Highlights include talks by Sue McGeevor and Cyril Pearce, who will look at the effects of war on personal lives from Women’s Auxiliary Movement to conscientious objectors from 1914 to 1918.

Dr Rebecca Gill will also be speaking about Belgian refugees that settled around Huddersfield and Middlestown. While Elaine Merckxx and Neal Rigby will be discussing Wakefield Grammar School Foundation’s role in the Great War.

And Adrian Barlow, from the Kempe Trust, will give a talk on stained glass artist Charles Eamer Kempe, whose work can be seen in several parish churches and cathedrals in Yorkshire, like Wakefield and Bradford cathedrals and York Minster.

Artist Adam Goodyear, who recently restored the World War One memorial windows at St. Luke’s Church, Middlestown less than a mile from the mining museum, will also show visitors how a stained glass window is created in a live demonstration.

The event will run from 10am to 4.15pm on Saturday, February 11. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance for the free event as places for the talks are limited. To book please email [email protected].