Event Details

May 2025 marks the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Join us for a collaborative study day between the Regional Heritage Centre and Lancaster Military Heritage Group exploring the experiences, impacts and legacies of the conflict in the North West.

A range of speakers including academics, independent scholars and heritage professionals will bring insights into experiences of the war in and on the region. This includes those of men and women from the area who served, as well as the impact of conflict as felt ‘at home’. We will also examine the legacy and memory of the conflict, considering the role of objects and our region’s military museums in curating narratives about the conflict; and the legacy of war experiences on local life and the regional landscape. Please note this event will be for in-person attendance only and will not be recorded.

9.00 am Assemble Library Events Space (tea/coffee is not served at the beginning of the day –

but will be available mid-morning)

09:25 – 09:30 Welcome & Introduction: Dr Chris Donaldson (RHC Director)/ Dr Oliver Wilkinson (Academic Coordinator)

& Brian Jefferson (Lancaster Military Heritage Group)

09:30 – 10:15 Fighting the Second World War: The North West’s Regiments in the Second World War - Dr Bastiaan

Willems (Lancaster University)

10:15 - 11:00 ‘She’s in the Ranks too!’: A Regional Perspective of Women in the War Effort, Professor Corinna Peniston-

Bird (Lancaster University)

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee/Tea Break

11:30 – 12:15pm The Lancaster City/Rural Units of the Home Guard and the Work of the Local Royal Observer Corps and

Civil Defence 1940-45 - Shaun Corkerry (independent scholar)

12:15-13:00 Every Object Tells a Story: The Legacy of the Second World War in Military Museums - Jules Wooding

(Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life)

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break* (lunch not provided)

14:00 – 15:00 ‘Over Here’: The Second World War and American GIs in the North West - Dr Sam Edwards (University of

Loughborough)

15:00-15:30 Tea/Coffee Break

15:30 – 16:15 Roundtable Discussion The 80th Anniversary of the Second World War: Local and Regional Legacies