Military heritage project recruits local ambassadors

A free Airborne Ambassadors event is being held at the Wyndham Park Visitor Centre in Grantham at 10am on Saturday 7th June.

Just a day after commemorations for the 81^st anniversary of D-Day, the two-hour event is a chance to engage with the council’s Soldiers from the Sky project, made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Volunteers can then pursue their own research into the district’s airborne history, and help foster pride in how South Kesteven hosted British, American and Polish paratrooper forces who trained locally for D Day and Arnhem and flew into battle from local airfields.

Paratroops underwent gruelling training marches, dropped from C-47 Dakota aircraft stationed on giant American airfields around Grantham, supped ale in local pubs, and stayed in properties commandeered as military accommodation.

Attendance is free but tickets must be booked online here: https://tinyurl.com/SKvolunteering

SKDC Armed Forces Champion Cllr Bridget Ley said: “We have a wealth of information about this incredible chapter of South Kesteven's military heritage, a largely untold story of allied airborne forces who gathered here to fight for freedom.

“There are layers of heritage that we have yet to uncover, however, and we hope that our ambassadors can help us share even more of the stories that need recording before they pass from memory.”

Project co-ordinators have mapped key locations across the district with airborne connections.

Ambassadors can then share local information on village websites, via parish councils, local talks and via local schools.