The event will be held at Masham Town Hall on Saturday 16th November from 10am to 12pm.

The project, Leeds Pals, POWs and the Home Front, will focus on the impact of the war on the landscape and communities of Nidderdale AONB. It will also tell the story of the Leeds Pals, who were trained in the Masham area.

The event aims to attract people from the local community with family stories, memories or physical objects relating to the First World War. It will also be an opportunity for people to consider volunteering for the project, for example by undertaking historical and archaeological research. Volunteers will be able to access training opportunities, learn new skills and support the development of the project.

The event will be supported by the ‘Making of Mashamshire’, a community heritage project based in Masham. The group’s research into the histories of local families and businesses is of great relevance to the First World War project.

Amanda Peacock, WWI Project Officer, said: “I hope the event will attract anyone interested in finding out more about the project, particularly those interested in volunteering. We are also particularly keen to meet people from the community with family stories about the First World War, as our links with people who knew the First World War generation first hand will soon be lost forever.”

Notes for Editors

The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is one of Britain's finest landscapes and is located on the eastern flanks of the Pennines in North Yorkshire. Covering an area of 233 square miles (603 km2), it shares its western boundary with the Yorkshire Dales National Park whilst its southern boundary follows the course of the River Wharfe alongside the towns of Ilkley and Otley. To the north and east of the AONB are the towns of Masham and Harrogate, and the city of Ripon.

The central feature of the AONB is the long, majestic dale of the River Nidd that runs from the wild fells around Great Whernside, south and east towards the Vale of York. The western side is occupied by a remote and wild gritstone landscape, with vast swathes of heather moorland that is internationally important for wildlife and home to some of the most famous grouse shoots in the country. To the east lies a much softer, pastoral landscape with rolling farmland, sheltered river valleys and picturesque villages, scattered with historic parks and gardens such as Hackfall and Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal World Heritage Site.

Nidderdale AONB is a working landscape that has been shaped by centuries of human activity. The valley has been moulded by a rich land use history that embraces agriculture, mining, quarrying, textiles and water provision, and as a result it has an extremely rich and complex historic environment with a wealth of medieval landscape features. The varied landscape has created diverse habitats, which support a wide range of flora and fauna of national and international importance.
Nidderdale was designated as An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the Government in 1994.

The AONB designation aims to:

• conserve and enhance the natural beauty
• encourage social and economic development that contributes to the natural beauty of the AONB
• improve the management of recreation and tourism

Responsibility for managing the AONB rests with the AONB's Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) and the AONB team based in Pateley Bridge. The JAC has a maximum membership of 28 including 12 local authority representatives. Their role is to advise local authorities and other agencies about how to best achieve AONB objectives. The AONB team runs various projects that conserve the AONB landscape and its wildlife and improve the management of recreation and tourism. The work of the team is managed through the JAC.

On a day-to-day basis, management of the AONB's landscape is carried out by farmers and other landowners, individual householders and many others. Everyone who works in, lives in or visits the Nidderdale AONB has a part to play in looking after this nationally important landscape.

Further information

For further information or images, contact Leanne Fox, Information Officer at Nidderdale AONB on 01423 712 950 or 01423 551 667 or email: leanne.fox@harrogate.gov.uk.

For more information about this event or to find out about the project, please contact Amanda Peacock on 01423 551 664 or amanda.peacock@harrogate.gov.uk.

You can also visit the Nidderdale AONB website.