Halifax residents are asked to share their Second World War memories at Central Library event

Calderdale Council is taking part in the nationwide campaign organised by Their Finest Hour, a team based at the University of Oxford and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is collecting and preserving the everyday stories and objects of the Second World War.

A Digital Collection Day is being held in Halifax where local World War Two related stories or artefacts will be captured so they can be made available for future generations.

Halifax Central Library will host a session on Monday, December 4 from 10.30am to 6pm.

An event was also held at Todmorden Library on November 24.

People are invited to go along and share stories about wartime experiences and take associated objects such as diaries, letters, medals, journals and ration books.

In the interests of safety, people are asked not to bring any weapons, gas masks or potentially dangerous items.

These items will then be recorded, digitised, and uploaded to the Their Finest Hour online archive, which will be free-to-use and launch in June 2024.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Services and Communities, Coun Jenny Lynn, said: “As one of the biggest conflicts in history, the Second World War had a major impact on people across the country and the world.

“So many of us have war-related stories and objects that have been passed down to us from our parents, grandparents and other family members.

"It’s so important that we can capture local accounts from this significant period of history, so the memories are preserved for future generations."

Dr Stuart Lee, project leader, Their Finest Hour, said: “We’re delighted to be able to create an archive of memories of the Second World War.

"Our aim is to empower local communities to digitally preserve these stories and objects before they are lost to posterity.”

The project team is especially interested in collecting contributions from people from underrepresented backgrounds in order to increase the diversity of people benefiting from Second World War heritage.