Media Invite
From Catriona Watt
Phone 0141 287 3922 Mobile 07766 471 481
Email catriona.watt@glasgow.gov.uk
5 August 2015
MEDIA INVITE/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
To signal the start of work on ‘Digging In’, an innovative educational and
experimental project to recreate Allied and German trenches, you are invited to
send a reporter/photographer/film crew to Pollok Park on Friday 7 August at
2.30pm, where the Lord Provost Sadie Docherty and other project partners will
be available for interview.
Location: the west end of Nether Pollok playing fields – immediately east of the
play park and the Burrell car park.
LORD PROVOST VISITS DIGGING IN TRENCH RECONSTRUCTION SITE.
Glasgow’s Lord Provost Sadie Docherty will witness the start of work on ‘Digging In’,
an ambitious reconstruction of First World War trenches in Pollok Park, Glasgow on
Friday 7 August at 2.30pm.
The Lord Provost will meet lead project partners, including Dr Tony Pollard, Director
of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow and Dr Olivia
LeLong of Northlight Heritage, as well as re-enactors in First World War costume and
members of the University of Glasgow Officer Training Corps who will be busy
digging a practice trench.
The Lord Provost, currently leading the city’s four-year First World War
Commemoration programme said: “Digging In is daring and I’m sure it will prove a
huge hit with everyone who visits. Pollok Country Park is a great asset to the city.
Already home to the renowned Burrell Collection, this new and exciting educational
development will allow us all to better appreciate the experiences of soldiers on the
Western Front and the impact on communities at home.”
The bold initiative is designed to raise awareness of the Great War and offer children
and adults a truly interactive experience of life in the trenches. It will involve the
construction of Allied and German trenches being built as authentically as possible to
the period.
The faithfulness of the reconstructions will be informed by detailed research,
including first- hand accounts from soldiers’ diaries and information gleaned from
archaeological excavations across the Western Front, as well as field manuals on
trench construction and maintenance
The venture is led by a partnership involving Northlight Heritage, Glasgow City
Council, the University of Glasgow and Stewart's Melville College. Thanks to National
Lottery players, a grant of more than £99,000 has been awarded to the project by the
Heritage Lottery Fund.
Work begins on Digging In on Monday 10 August with the building of the site’s
perimeter fence.
Notes for Editors
Link to previous Digging In news release. Pictures of FWW trench warfare courtesy
of the Imperial War Museum are available from GCC.
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=16008
For further information please contact:
Catriona Watt
Public Relations Officer
Glasgow City Council
Phone 0141 287 3922
Mobile 07766 471 481
Email catriona.watt@glasgow.gov.uk
Elizabeth Buie
Communications Officer (International lead)
Direct line: +44 (0)141 330 2702
Fax: +44 (0) 141 330 5643
Mobile: 07527 335373
Communications and Public Affairs Office
University of Glasgow
Email: Liz.Buie@glasgow.ac.uk
Web: www.glasgow.ac.uk/communications
Dr Olivia Lelong
Northlight Heritage • Room 406 • South Block • 64 Osborne Street • Glasgow G1
5QT • Scotland
Tel: 0845.901.1142 • 07432.694.178
About the Heritage Lottery Fund:
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the
UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic
places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every
part of our diverse heritage HLF has supported 37,000 projects with £6 billion across
the UK, including more than £70million to more than 1,100 projects – large and small
- that are marking the global Centenary of the First World War, www.hlf.org.uk
#understandingWW1