SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Dear SecretLeedsOn Saturday 27th September, Leeds City Museum is hosting a day entitled Exploring Leeds & Yorkshire in the First World War. The museum will be filled with displays, talks, family activities and at 2pm we're hosting a panel discussion 100% informed by public questions. Email questions, queries, comments to [email protected]'d love to hear from you, All the best!

Many thanks for your information sounds like it could be very interesting.

Questions about what? Specifically Leeds's involvement in world war 1? Wasnt there somewhere to the east of Leeds that manufactured or filled high explosive shells before they were shipped to the front or am I thinking of world war 2?

jonleeds wrote: Questions about what? Specifically Leeds's involvement in world war 1? Wasnt there somewhere to the east of Leeds that manufactured or filled high explosive shells before they were shipped to the front or am I thinking of world war 2? Certainly was Jon, we have a thread or three about Barnbow and the Thorpe Arch site too.    

chameleon wrote: jonleeds wrote: Questions about what? Specifically Leeds's involvement in world war 1? Wasnt there somewhere to the east of Leeds that manufactured or filled high explosive shells before they were shipped to the front or am I thinking of world war 2? Certainly was Jon, we have a thread or three about Barnbow and the Thorpe Arch site too.     And don't forget the aircraft factories...

Might have a pop down

I know due to the 100th anniversary the trend is to be interested in the so-called 'Great War' or world war 1 but personally I'd like to know more about world war 2 and the cold war period as my late grandfather was in the RAF during ww2 and he had a career in the RAF for the rest of his working life. Although I've inherited his ww2 and other service medals I've no idea what they mean or were awarded for. I've heard there are websites where you can look up ex-service personnels military records and find out what certain medals were awarded for but I've yet to look anything up, my mum looks after them for me so I dont know what they are as I've not seen them for years. Also I recently discovered my grandad was based at RAF Driffield out on the East Yorkshire Wolds during the early 1960s when a squadron of 15 Thor medium range nuclear missiles was deployed there. I only found this out after my grandad had passed away and he never spoke about it nor did I get the chance to talk to him about this. I'd heard tales from my grandparents and mum about growing up and living on the RAF base but mostly domestic stuff. The fact that my grandad was probably assigned to control a 1 megaton nuclear weapon at the height of the Cuban missile crisis sends a shiver down my spine and is probably a contributing factor in my unhealthy obsession with nuclear oblivion!As far as knowing if I have any distant ancestors who served or were killed in ww1 is concerned I wouldnt know where to begin, most of these genealogy websites seem to charge a fee to search through records for births and deaths and its not something I'm all that interested in finding out about. Sounds like an interesting service the museum are offering though.

Questions can be about anything!All the comments are fascinating so much - you could frame a question around Leeds & Industry in the FWW, or the impact of the FWW on other conflicts - like the Cold War. Really, we want to gather questions from you, All the best!

My question - which I've emailed; "Can Leeds Museums & Galleries take over and administer the information on Leeds Absent Voters which was previously hosted on the LCC website". This was a valuable resource for anybody researching family history and has now been rendered useless by having half the information removed.

liits wrote: My question - which I've emailed; "Can Leeds Museums & Galleries take over and administer the information on Leeds Absent Voters which was previously hosted on the LCC website". This was a valuable resource for anybody researching family history and has now been rendered useless by having half the information removed. Thats a great request Chris.I have met they guy several times who undertook the research and compiled the indexes now held in the Local History room at Leeds Central Library.I havent been for a while but he seemed to always pop in when i was there, going round visitors in the room asking if they were researching anyone in World War One.