Preston Remembers is a partnership project that is joining together the activities, exhibitions and events that are happening from 2014 – 2018 in Preston to mark the centenary of the First World War. More information can be found on the Preston Remembers website.

The project is currently looking for volunteers for a new part of the Preston Remembers project to lead local tours.

The tours look at three individuals from Preston, all with stories to tell about the First World War, which reflect the wider history at the time. These stories are:-

• Joseph Garstang – a conscientious objector who was imprisoned and force fed for his beliefs
• John Gregson – a local man with a young family, a career soldier, who was killed in action in 1915
• Beatrice Blackhurst – wife of a local solicitor, and a founding member of the Preston Free Buffet and many other good causes in the war.

The training for the tour guiding will be held over three days on Weds 7th, Thurs 8th and Fri 9th October and will be an intensive training course with a  leading Manchester tour guide / trainer, looking at all aspects of delivering tours from group management, to health and safety, to actually delivering the tours. Although we cannot offer paid employment for this role, the training is an excellent opportunity to develop skills which would be beneficial for future employment.

Once the training is completed, volunteers will be placed on a rota for taking the tours which will run once a month on a Saturday or a Sunday. The tours will be launched in November and would then run once a month.

We would love to speak to anyone who is interested further about the role. We are actually running two open mornings for anyone interested to come along and find out more. 10am Thurs 17^th September and 10am Weds 23^rd September. These will be at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in the centre of Preston.

For further details, please contact Claire Selby (Volunteer Co-ordinator Preston Remembers) either by email at c.selby@preston.gov.uk  or by telephone on 01772906880.

Would you like to become a tour guide for Preston Remembers? Let us know in the comments below.