WRITTLE is one of England's first villages to win a new research lottery grant stemming from Michael Wood's social history television series, The Great British Story.
Archaeology group Heritage Writtle and Writtle Archives will share £5,800 from a new Heritage Lottery Fund to produce a book called "Historic Writtle – Village Life Through Misfortune And War From The Romans To The Second World War".
Over 500 groups from across the country will benefit from a share of the £4.5 million All Our Stories fund, which was delivered by the Heritage Lottery Fund in support of The Great British Story – A People's History, the major BBC2 series broadcast this year.
The aim is to help communities and individuals to better understand the history of their area, with grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 given to groups.
The Writtle project aims to bring together diverse information in one book about the rich history of life in the village.
The team will seek reminiscences of the Land Army Girls of WWII who worked on Writtle farms. They also hope to identify the girls in a 1940s photograph at Writtle College.
Heritage Writtle's Gordon Ingram said: "Indeed we would appreciate any memories or stories with a wartime theme, from residents, friends and relatives about Writtle from 1900 to 1945.
"This could include the SAS, POW camps, anti-aircraft batteries, and the home guard."
Mr Wood said: "It is really tremendous that the people of Writtle have been inspired to get involved to tell their own story and to dig deeper into their own past.
"It's brilliant that so many people are being given the chance to get involved through the All Our Stories grants."
Writtle archivist Wendy Hibbitt said: "We can't wait to get started. We love where we live and know there's so much more to discover about our past.
"We are all really excited about telling other people about our findings and sharing our heritage and history with them.
"The grant towards our book will allow us to piece together information from the Writtle Archives, particularly information on the bombing and memories of the First and Second World Wars, combining it with our archaeological finds from Heritage Writtle back to the distant past.
"We will be able to remind people of events long past which would surely have had a marked effect on the way of life in our village."
Heritage Writtle and Writtle Archives are two volunteer groups of around 40 members, who look after the written record of the village, and investigate field archaeology and history.
Previous publications include "Shops", "Schools", and "The Romans".
They give talks and lectures to local clubs and societies, adult education and others in Writtle and across Essex and work with officials at Essex Record Office, museums and Historic Environment.
Robyn Llewellyn, head of HLF East of England, said: "Clearly, the success of All Our Stories has reinforced the fact that we are indeed a nation of storytellers and that we want to explore and dig deeper into our past and discover more about what really matters to us.
"This is exactly what the grant will do for the 'Historic Writtle – Village Life Through Misfortune And War' as they embark on a real journey of discovery."
To help with research, contact Wendy Hibbitt on 01245 421265 or e-mail wendyhibbitt@ hotmail.com or call Gordon Ingram on 01245 422986 or e-mail heritage@writtlevillage.com
