Fovant Badges Society – World War One Centenary Project



Fovant Badges Wiltshire

 

The Fovant Badges Society is the charity responsible for the maintenance of the badges cut into the hillside overlooking Fovant. The first badge was constructed in 1916 by soldiers stationed at Fovant in World War One. They are Scheduled Monuments and War Memorials. Five of the surviving badges date from World War One, two from just after World War Two and the last was constructed in 1970. Annual maintenance costs for the Society amount to around £30,000.

The World War One Centenary

The Centenary has created huge public and media interest in World War One. The Trustees of The Society cannot afford to miss this absolutely unique opportunity to raise awareness of the badges.

The objectives of the Fovant Badges Society can be summarised as:

• To ensure that the Fovant Badges can be enjoyed by future generations and
• To educate members of the public about the Fovant Badges

The Society’s plans for the World War One are a two stage Education Project that is designed to safeguard the future of the badges by generating new interest in them amongst a wider, and younger, audience.

 Education Project – Part 1

We are pleased to announce that the Society has received a grant of £8,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s First World War: then and now programme for the first part of our education programme. The grant will help the Society to widen the appeal of the badges by re-imagining them as a window onto Britain’s history in the C20th. The project will deliver:

1. Interactive material (an education pack) describing the history of Fovant First World War Army Camp[1] and its impact on the Wiltshire village of Fovant and the subsequent history of the badges. The intention is that it will be made available to schools to better inform the Centenary Programme. This part of the project will be completed by September 2014.
2. Working with the University of Southampton, a one day symposium on the subject of War, Landscape and Memory in the Twentieth Century will take place on 7 May 2014 at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. The target audience is the general public, academics and 6th form students.
3. In order for the Education Project to have a lasting impact the Society’s website will be updated and expanded so that the results of the project can be made available to all. Completion will be before December 2014. The public will be encouraged to add family recollections of WW1 to the website.
4. In the autumn/winter of 2014/15, a series of public feedback sessions about the project discoveries will be arranged for local communities.

Education Project - Part 2

The second part of the Education Project builds on the schools project outlined above. Its purpose is to involve local schools and communities in a direct way with the badges. In outline this will involve:

1. The appointment of an Education Officer from 2015 through to 2018. This will be a part time post, probably for 8 days per month.


1. The Education Officer will be available to schools and local groups to provide greater insight into the material included in the education pack and will encourage groups to visit Fovant and the badges.
2. The Education Officer and Trustees of the Society will provide liaison and guidance for those school students and other groups that wish to visit Fovant and the badges.
2. Perhaps the most powerful element of the Education Project is the construction of a new badge in 2016. Whilst this will be project managed by The Fovant Badges Society and its contractor, local schools and the community of Fovant will be encouraged to volunteer and assist in its construction, within H&S guidelines, during which:


1. We will test some of the theories and myths surrounding the construction of the badges in 1916-18 e.g. how was the design transcribed on to the hillside? Could signal flags and other WW1 communications be used to make design adjustments? And crucially could you slide down the hillside on a spade and/or a shovel?
2. During construction we propose filming the process so that we will have a permanent record of the processes involved.
3. The construction of the new badge provides a very real opportunity for re-enacting and recording some of the tales surrounding the badges and the rivalries between the various regiments stationed in the area that were expressed by building ever larger badges. Why, for example, were some of them re-built only months after completion?
4. Most importantly, the involvement of many schools and members of the local community in the construction of the Centenary Badge will have countless benefits to the participants and the Society by re-invigorating interest in the badges

In conclusion, building a new badge will also enable all of us to salute those soldiers back in 1916 that built the first badges in a way that would make perfect sense to them.

The Centenary Badge will firstly be dedicated to all of the World War One badges and their creators. A new engraved stainless steel depiction of the downs and all of the badges will placed in the A30 lay-by for the enlightenment of our visitors.

Secondly, the Centenary Badge will be dedicated to the sacrifices made by all British and Commonwealth Service Men and Women since 1945 and to those currently serving. For this reason, the design of the badge will be based on The Royal British Legion Poppy.

An application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for this part of the project is in progress.

Richard Bullard - PR and Newsletter Editor, Fovant Badges Society

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[1] The Fovant Badges Society would like to thank members of The Fovant History Interest Group for their continued help in this project.