Durham at War

D/X 1899 Poppy saved by Lance Corporal John Harkess

You will see that our blog has had a minor makeover to tie in with the design of the Durham at War website which goes live on Wednesday 10 September. The poppy logo takes its shape from one of the poppies (above) that used to feature in the blog header, and the centre of the logo represents the area that will be covered by the interactive mapping on the new website, a combination of the present day and historic County Durham.

The project website is really taking shape and over the next week we will be carrying out user testing in the Manchester office of our website developers, Reading Room Ltd.  The Durham at War website will launch in two phases. The main website including the historic mapping goes live on 10 September. Additional features will be added at the end of October 2014, including an advanced search across the entire website, and the facility to log in to the website from home. When you log in you will be able to submit new stories or additional pieces of information and comment on the existing website content.

There will be an event in the Durham Room at County Hall to mark the website launch on Wednesday 10 September. This is open to the public from 4pm to 8pm. Visitors will be able to come and try the website out, talk to project staff about how they can get involved and see other First World War community projects from the region.  The Record Office will be closed to the public this day, opening on Thursday 11 September instead.

On Friday 12 September the Record Office is taking part in the Heritage Open Days with a focus on the Durham at War project.

We will also have a stand in the marquee at Palace Green for the Durham Light Infantry World War One Centenary Weekend 13 and 14 September.  This weekend also sees the unveiling of the Durham Light Infantry statue in Durham Market Place.