​Bring our heroes home online this Remembrance Day

Bury Archives are hoping that people keep the memory of our fallen soldiers alive despite the coronavirus restrictions on Remembrance Day events.

Their online service has a vast amount of information on the First World War that was extracted from local newspapers as part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project in 2014. This collection includes soldiers’ obituaries and photographs, and many of these have been mapped showing the soldiers’ last known addresses.

Residents are invited to use this map to find a soldier to remember on 11 November. This may be a soldier who lived near you, on your street, or maybe even in your own home.

Acts of remembrance can come in many forms but the information found on the website could be used in the following ways:

• Print off the soldier’s image/obituary and display it in your window
• Save the image(s) to your device and put your tablet or phone in the window
• Use the information about the soldier to do your own window display
• Put the information on your social media accounts

We would also love to see your acts of remembrance so please send pictures to archives@bury.gov.uk or use #buryarchives (Twitter)

Councillor David Jones, cabinet member for communities and emergency planning, said: “Bury has a long and proud military history, notably at Gallipoli but also in many other fields of conflict.

“Sadly, the coronavirus restrictions mean we cannot remember the fallen at public events or parades around Armistice Day or Remembrance Sunday. But we can still remember their sacrifice and find out more about them and their families.

“All those years ago, when these soldiers left their homes, they had no idea that they would never return. This year, let’s go online and bring them home in a very local way.”

How to use the WW1 Map

Go to https://www.buryarchivesonline.co.uk/ and select “Soldier Records”, then select “Map View”.

Use the map to locate the area you are interested in. Once you click a soldier icon you will get the option to “View Profile”.

You will then be taken to the soldier’s record where you can access information on the soldier. Images can be saved by right clicking them and selecting “save picture as”.

ENDS

Press release issued: 28 October 2020.

Note to editors

About Bury Archives

Established in 1985 to collect the records, papers and photographs which are of cultural and historic value relating to the Borough of Bury and make them available free of charge to the public. The collections of records we hold relate to all aspects of life in the borough and are donated by the Council, local businesses, schools, churches, various clubs, societies, organisations and individuals dating from 1675 to the present day.

Bury Archives Online was developed by us, thanks to funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund, to increase access to our WW1 project collection as well as various other collections, including historic photographs, archival records and secondary sources held by local studies.

You can find more information about the Archives & Local Studies services on our website at: www.bury.gov.uk/archives