The 1st of July was the 1st day of The Battle of The Somme. William Owen witnessed it first hand.

July 1^st Saturday

The Exhibition commemorating Luton's WW1 opens on the 5th August at Wardown Park Museum.

I'm really looking forward to it...opening. The creative process is fun, believe me, but it can get a little hectic in places when you have a hundred and one things to plan and deliver by yesterday.

Prior preparation and planning prevents p*** poor performance, they told me in the forces. How true that holds! But always have unexpected curveballs showing up from time to time.

Anyway, a sneak peak at the exhibition plan for those of you who are interested :)

June 2nd Friday

Taking 26 waggons loads of Amo for the 4.5 Inch guns got back 4.30 am

June 3rd Saturday

Not out but the farm went on fire had to be up most of the night putting the fire

out saved the house and all the cattle all the out buildings badly burned

June 4th Sunday

Taking plank for dug outs left 4pm arrived back 3.30 am lost one waggon

June 12th Monday

Took the 2nd S.Stafford up to the trenches raining all the time

June 18th Sunday

Very interesting meeting at the University of Bedfordshire today.

Got to scan in the entire war diaries of Biscot Camp, .pdf to come...But was discussing the future shape of this here site.

Improvements are coming to the way it flows i.e. how easy it is to use. Computer people use the term HCI or "Human Computer Interaction."

I love sharing historical content with people. I like the process of discovery, the digitsation, the clean up, the uploading and the publicising.

I love it because, each time somebody sees content for the first time and has that “Wow!” moment…I get the same buzz I had when I too first saw it.

As many of you know, the WWI Project Volunteers have been digging into the history of Wardown Park Museum as part of the project, and thought I’d share this information with you all. Big thanks to Erin for her work. Now we can begin tracing the full biographical details of these individuals.

I visited the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich on Tuesday. I went with the express aim of tracking down any and all documents relating to Biscot Camp, Luton.

The Absent Voters List, is an important resource when it comes to tracing WWI ancestors. We've just uploaded the first chunk to the website, with 6 more to come.

There was a General Election in Britain in 1918. Details of men in the army were listed on Absent Voters Lists (see details below). These usually recorded the man’s regiment, number and rank at the time, as well as his home address.

Well thank you BBC News, for posting a little piece about our fantastic project.

Rather pleased that we are starting to get attention.

On the 28th 29th 30th and 31st March, volunteers and the WWI Project Officer, will be manning a stall at Central Square in The Mall Luton.

Come along and see us, find out a little about your town during WWI, and learn about how you can contribute your WWI stories to the project.

9AM - 5PM Fri,Sat,Mon

11AM - 4PM Sun

Thanks to all at BBC3CR and presenter Roberto Perrone, for allowing me to wax lyrical about the project today (20th March).

Listen here. I start about 35 minutes in. This link will cease to be valid after the 27th March :(

Did you know that the area bounded by Kennington Road, Biscot Road, Holland Road, and Leagrave Road; used to be the home of a large camp that trained many thousands of men to be ready for service in the Royal Field Artillery? Including the author Dennis Wheatley! It was called Biscot Camp, and was extremely important in the wartime history of the town and yet, there is very little known about it.

This site is about splitting information up into chunks that can be used for research, to tell stories, and to build a bigger picture of Luton's war. But if you just want to talk about your family memories of WWI, and are not quite sure where to start or what to do. I hope this little guide helps.

The museum at Wardown Park is a well known, and well loved building in Luton. But did you know, that it had a hidden history as a WWI Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.) Hospital?

Normally, Monday mornings can be a bit of a bind.

But not when you're working with the history of a town in WWI, because you never know when you're going to turn up something amazing. Today's treat is, the hidden history of Luton Town Football Club.

WWI Project Volunteers HilC, and Dave, have uncovered a quite extraordinary history! Why don't you go and have a look?