Surrey Heritage, part of Surrey County Council, has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its ambitious project ‘A County Remembers: Surrey in the Great War’ it was announced today. The project is at the heart of the county's commemoration of the First World War and the quest to understand how the war changed the face of Surrey and the lives of its residents.

The project will lead, collect and publish online community-based research exploring all aspects of the impact of the war on the county and the stories of those who served in the armed forces and those who contributed on the home front. People of all ages and backgrounds across the county will be inspired to come together with the common aim of creating a global, interactive, accessible and enduring digital resource telling Surrey's story during the war years. This initial phase of the project for which development funding of £22,600 has been awarded, will allow Surrey Heritage to promote the project to schools and community groups and prepare a bid for HLF funding for the full project which will run for the full five years of the commemoration of the war, 2014-18.

At the heart of the full project will be a new website recording the stories of Surrey's towns, villages, organisations and individual men and women who experienced the war, both those who survived and those who fell. This constantly expanding and developing resource will enable people to explore, and understand the impact of the war on the county. Contributors of all ages, backgrounds and levels of experience will discover the thrill of exploring and understanding the past as they investigate original records, letters and newspapers to add content to the website. As people are inspired to investigate the impact of the war on their families and communities, memories and memorabilia of the war, in danger of disappearing with the passage of time, will be captured for posterity.

With the support, enthusiasm and energy of current residents of Surrey and those with former links to the county, the project will create a fitting tribute to the sacrifices and suffering of their forebears of 100 years ago who endured the first global, industrial war in human history.

Barrie Higham, Heritage Manager at Surrey County Council, said: "We are absolutely delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund have given their support to this project. The development funds will enable us to draw up our plans to engage the whole community of Surrey in an exploration of how the Great War affected our county, in what we hope will become a very significant contribution to the commemoration of World War One".

Explaining the importance of the HLF support, Stuart McLeod, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South East, said: “The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. We have already invested more than £45 million in commemorative projects, including local community projects like this one , which will enable people to explore and record their local wartime history and commemorate the thousands of people from Surrey who were affected during the conflict.” 

Further information

Laura Bates, HLF press office, 020 7591 6027 / lbates@hlf.org.uk.