Illustrated memories shared with children

A Century’s Memories is a reminiscence project which was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. During 2018, some groups of older people across Bath and North East Somerset have contributed their family stories and memories. They were interviewed by young people from Bath College and Army Cadets. Breathing life into the faded photographs of a hundred years ago, the stories that were shared have been full of incident, humour and sadness. The late Roma Tomkins remembered how her father would tell her brother bed-time stories about his time in the war; as a little girl, she wasn’t supposed to hear, but her brother left his bedroom door just ajar so that she could secretly listen. Other contributors spoke of fathers or grandfathers who lost limbs and their fortitude in managing their disability, and the terrible effects of ‘shell shock’ – which we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – that rendered men unable to work or even leave the house. A Century’s Memories is an illustrated, limited edition book which will be given to every school in Bath and North East Somerset, and will be available to borrow from libraries. A small number of copies will be distributed through other outlets. For more information contact centenary_worldwar1@ bathnes.gov.uk