Students researching the global impact of the First World War on Leeds

Given that 2014 marks the centenary of World War One, we, a group of second and final year Leeds University students, are researching the global impact of the war on our city. We are particularly interested in the changing perspectives of local soldiers who travelled abroad, including their experiences in foreign countries, their perceptions of home whilst away, and their thoughts on returning to their home city of Leeds. We have also been researching the roles of communities in Leeds in maintaining connections between local soldiers and the city through ideas such as flag days and the items which were sent abroad as reminders of home (footballs, sardines and Yorkshire relish seem to have been common requests!)

With the wealth of resources available to us at both the university and city libraries, the prospect of this research is extremely exciting! Part of the basis of our research will be formed by letters home from soldiers, newspaper cuttings and diaries.

We are hoping to create a short film as part of our final output, as well as running workshops in local schools in order to engage with, and share our findings with, a wide range of people.

We will be running a stall and a workshop at the faculty of arts UGRE event on the 19th February with more information about our project. You can also follow our progress online via our blog at http://luslegaciesofwar.wordpress.com/ and our Twitter account https://twitter.com/LUSLegaciesWW1