Students from Frome College History Club are helping to create a new hidden history walk in Mells.
The walk is part of ‘Home of our Delight’; a Heritage Lottery-funded project coordinated by Rook Lane Arts which is exploring the impact of the First World War on Mells and neighbouring villages.
The students are working with artist/technologist Chris Jelley to ‘pin’ history back into a walk around the village, where it can be found by anyone with a smart phone.
The walk will launch in September alongside the ‘Home of our Delight’ exhibition and activity programme at Rook Lane Chapel, and will be accompanied by a new walking guide. This will be the centenary of the death of three Mells-connected men at the Somme: Raymond Asquith, son of the then Prime Minister, Tom King and Edward Vranch.
“The walk will have around twelve ‘stops’ around the village, all with relevance to life a hundred years ago, and shining a light on the impact of the First World War at home,” says coordinator Jo Plimmer.
The students have already been involved in a range of research alongside the project including reading archive newspapers (thanks to Frome Museum), transcribing hundred year-old letters, and oral history interviewing.
There are lots of opportunities for volunteers of all ages to get involved with the project whether resident in Mells or not. The team is particularly interested to hear from anyone who would like to search for relevant material on the Somerset Standard archives (held on microfiche at Frome Library), and anyone with experience of ‘Historypin’: an open-source system linking archive images back to the locations where the pictures were taken.
To find out more about ‘Home of our Delight’ (which takes its name from the inscription on the village memorial in Mells) visit www.homeofourdelight.org.uk
