The project team members kept to their tight timescale by communicating online. This diary was an important way of keeping everyone up to date:

Today is launch day at the town hall. We are today showcasing excepts from the final DVD in a town hall filled with bunting, food, wine and Glen Miller and Vera Lynn.

All videos are now completed with 48 done in total! Mark is now in the process of editing down the tapes into a wholly digestable form on the final DVD.

We are now in the midst of organising the celebration of your acheivements! The 18th December will showcase the fruits of everyones labour in a bunting filled Town Hall. Between 11:00 and 14:00, join us and see highlights of the final DVD with buffet food and a seasonal mince pie.

If you wish to attend please tell us.

Eighteen interviews are now in! wow. Yesterday saw a session of seven people tell their memories in the town hall. Betty Rossindell - being at the head of the ship - made some brilliant interviews and become best friends with everyone she met!

A quick note from Chrissy:We do need to get as many interviews completed by the 25th as possible. However, we will be continuing with any remaining interviews until 2nd December

We now have nine completed interviews and a lot more in the works!  Well done everyone. Remember Chrissy still has a list of lovely people who are desperate to tell their stories to the world. Time to get out and show off your interviewing skills.

Recordings are now being received from interviewers with more in the pipe line. 

John Windsor recorded in a recent interview with Alastair and Ruth Rennie many memories of life in Scotland during the war.  As a school teacher Ruth accompanied four evacuee children from a Glasgow tenement, where they slept eight to a bed, to a village where she taught them at the school for three months.  She recalls how they were unused to the countryside and thought that apples could be taken from gardens without asking.

Alastair was a church minister in Montrose and recalls that a Heinckel bomber with spare ammunition shot and wounded a salmon fisherman and bombed a house by the river killing a mother and daughter.  He then saw the bereaved husband sitting outside his ruined house with his head in his hands.

Please note the following dates:-

Dead line for tapes to be handed to Mark - 25th of November.

Celebration day for the end of project and launch of the DVD will be on Sunday 18th December, from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. full details of the event will follow at a later date.

Recruiting is going well and we now have over 40 people having agreed to take part in the project. The first few completed videos have successfully taken place.

All forms and interview guides are now posted on the Volunteer Infomation page.

The first press release has been written and is awaiting a photo to accompany it, and hopefully will be placed in the media next week.

Our project is now well under way with volunteers having enthusiatically taken part in training workshops.

The boundless energy has been very impressive and all worked well over weekend sessions.  Some had never been close to a video camera before but Mark Pollak of www.clifton-media.co.uk got everyone off to a flying start, and was on hand to help with techinical problems.

Katya Coupland, consultant from Field of Vision specialists of Oral History, attended the first workshop and was thrilled with our project volunteers.

We appreciated how daunting and emotional it was for some people being interviewed and recorded on camera, but this was invaluble experience and prepared them for their task ahead.  Drawing out the best material means hard work and practice.  We are delighted with the way all our volunteers coped with their training - well done all !!

Some great ideas came out of the group, who have brought diverse skills and experience to the project.  We thank all who attended and wish them success with their interviews.

Posters and leaflets have now been distrubuted around town and interviewees are being collected.  Ben and Pat spent time on Tuesday walking around town talking to suitable candidates and had some success, bringing the total now to 21.

Further updates to follow soon.