BBC World War One At Home Tour

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Friday 19 & Saturday 20 September 2014

The BBC today announced plans to continue its commemorations of the First World War Centenary with a series of major public events this summer.

The BBC World War One At Home Tour will visit county shows, summer festivals, air shows and bustling shopping centres the length and breadth of the UK. Actor Larry Lamb is one of the well-known BBC faces who will take part in a number of the events, which will reflect on the dramatic impact the war had on families and communities, as well as helping people to explore their own relatives’ links to the war.

The family-friendly events will include hands-on activities, performances and interactive sessions designed to appeal to everyone from eight to 80. The World War One At Home Tour will feature a mix of eight flagship events, as well as 17 others which will run from May to September.

People attending the event can visit The Briefing Room for interviews and presentations hosted by BBC stars including actor Larry Lamb. They can volunteer to be put through their paces on an outdoor Parade Ground and make their own World War One At Home ID Permit to take away in The Recruitment Office. People can also learn about how medicine and communications were transformed during the war, including demonstrations of how carrier pigeons were an invaluable resource for sending messages.

 In addition to making their own ID Permits and learning about communications, visitors can also have a go at being a war reporter and meet experts from Imperial War Museums to search their families’ connections to the war. They can also hear interviews with BBC personalities and local experts and explore hands on activities in The Pals Tent and meet BBC Local Radio teams as the stations broadcast live from each site.The World War One At Home tour is a partnership between BBC Learning and BBC English Regions.

The BBC also continues its partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM) during the Centenary commemorations and IWM's Lives of the First World War will be an integral part of the tour. 14-18 NOW are also key partners, and visitors to most sites along the BBC World War One At Home Tour will be invited to take part in the nationwide project Letter to An Unknown Soldier, inspired by the famous memorial statue of a soldier at Paddington Station in London. Other partners include: The Royal Signals Museum; Royal Pigeon Racing Association and The Royal College of Pathologists.

Sinead Rocks, Acting Controller of BBC Learning, said: “Commemorating the start of World War One, we hope these ambitious events will give visitors a hands-on experience, helping people to explore how this conflict shaped our world at home and continues to influence us today.”

Craig Henderson, Head of Programmes for BBC English Regions, who oversaw the launch of the World War One At Home programmes earlier this year, adds: “As the national broadcaster which is also at the heart of the communities it serves, the BBC is in a unique position to stage a project like the World War One At Home Tour, reaching people right across the country.”

The BBC’s landmark UK-wide project World War One At Home, will continue on local, regional and national radio and television and online from 31 May 2014. This includes eleven half hour regional TV documentaries which will be broadcast across England on BBC One, Monday 2 June at 7.30pm.

For a full list of BBC World War One At Home Tour dates and venues as well as World War One programming on the BBC visit www.bbc.co.uk/ww1.