Welcome to the August edition of our Dig Diary – read on to find out what we’ve been up to and what’s coming up!
Creative Arts Programme Begins
Last month, our Virtual Veterans’ Programme wrapped up with an end of programme quiz after six weeks of fascinating lectures, lively discussions and wellbeing support. This month, our Creative Arts Programme kicks off, and we’re looking forward to welcoming a new group of veteran participants to Waterloo Uncovered! We’ll be supporting over 50 veterans in 2021, double the amount we were able to support last year.
The Creative Arts Programme will consist of creative group activities and discussions, virtual museum tours, and workshops with artists Beth Collar and Shaun Maloney and poet Nick Rendall on poetry, creative writing and drawing – followed by an exhibition of the veterans’ work at the National Army Museum!
Reenactors Raise £1500!
On the 24th of June, His Majesty’s 33rd Regiment of Foot reenactment group set out on a gruelling journey: to trek 18.15km in full reenactor’s kit, all the way from Halifax to the beautiful Stoodley Pike in West Yorkshire.
This was their 1815 Challenge; a fundraising challenge where we ask participants to walk, run, swim, cycle (or anything else they like!) 18.15km (11 miles) to raise money for the four veteran support programmes we are running in 2021.
We’re incredibly grateful to the 33rd, who raised over £1500 for our veteran and serving personnel through their amazing march! Well done and thank you to the team and everyone who donated for their support – we hope they had a great time. You can find the 33rd on Facebook, Instagram, and via their website.
Even with the 33rd’s amazing achievement, we still have a long way to go to reach our 1815 Challenge target of £20,000. Could you take on the 1815 Challenge? There are ways to get involved even if you aren’t sporty! And if you can’t take part, please consider making a donation to help us reach our fundraising goal and make our veteran support programmes a success.
Save the Date
Summer Events
Following a successful weekend at Chalke Valley History Festival, we attended Stansted Unlocked in July, a weekend extravaganza of history, cricket and fun in the grounds of the beautiful Stansted Park. Thank you to everyone who came out to visit us, and all our volunteers for spreading the word about Waterloo Uncovered. We’d also like to thank SD Displays and the Geoff Neal Group for providing printed materials and display boards for all our summer event appearances!
If you couldn’t make it to Chalke Valley or Stansted Unlocked, don’t worry – there are still plenty of chances to come visit our team and learn more about our work, as well as seeing some of our finds from Waterloo. Join us at Chelsea History Festival in September – get your tickets here!
Visiting the Finds Store
