Share your family memories of WW2

You are invited to take part in ‘Their Finest Hour’, a Heritage Lottery-funded nationwide campaign organised by the University of Oxford to collect and preserve the everyday stories and objects of the Second World War.

As these personal stories are fast fading from living memory, it is vital to preserve them and the wartime objects that often accompany them. As well as artefacts from the front, there are the experiences of those at home, including women and children.

How can you help?
• Subscribe to a national email group where u3a members can share views, air your Q&As with ‘Their Finest Hour’, and generally keep in the loop at https://forms.office.com/e/ctt2eu6v2c
• Attend the u3a Online Learning Event, date tbc.
• Share this message in your u3a, on Facebook, and in your newsletters.
• Go to a ‘Digital Collection Day’ to bring your stories or volunteer at it.
• Run a collection in your activity group over several meetings.
• Go online and upload your war-related stories and materials at https://theirfinesthour.english.ox.ac.uk/

‘Digital Collection Days’ are being run at a host of museums, libraries, services charities, and schools across the country, from Belfast, Cumbria, and Edinburgh down to Essex, London, Oxfordshire, and South Wales. u3a members volunteered at one of the first ‘Days’ in Oxford:
“It’s like ‘Flog It!’ or ‘Antiques Roadshow’ without the valuation! There’s so much you can do, from meet-and-greet to what I enjoyed the most, showing someone their husband’s war record online – he flew Lancasters – helping them understand more about their family story.”

Ally Edwards, u3a Evesham and District, 10 March

There are connections between ‘Their Finest Hour’ and u3a groups, for example, genealogy, local history, creative writing, photography, storytelling, getting our members confident in using technology, and combating loneliness. Find out more on https://theirfinesthour.english.ox.ac.uk/