THE history of a post-war Windermere housing estate is to be explored thanks to thousands of pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It has awarded £19,500 to Another Space, the Lake District Holocaust Project, to support its ‘Digging for Diamonds on Droomer’ project.

A website and archive will also now be added to the display on the first floor at Windermere Library.

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Droomer Estate lies on the outskirts of Windermere and was built in the late 1950s to house families who had been living on the nearby village of Calgarth estate, built during World War Two to provide homes for workers at the Short Sunderland flying boat factory at White Cross Bay.

Skilled workers from throughout Britain arrived to stay on the estate and were joined by local people from the immediate area, who were trained in the finer points of aircraft production.

But when the war ended Britain faced a huge task of rebuilding and economic reconstruction.

Even the Lake District was affected and the prospect of the loss of skilled and well-paid work at the factory, plus the shortage of housing, led to a debate over keeping the factory and homes.

Eventually an new housing estate was built at Droomer Stile farm.

Trevor Avery, director of the project, said: “We began working on the history of flying boats and seaplanes in this area nearly ten years ago and continue to uncover a remarkable aspect of the Lake District that is known to the locals but little known to those outside the region.

“It is a story that has led from EW Wakefield and his early experiments on Windermere in 1909 through the Second World War and and now we aim to take it all the way to the present day.”

If anyone has any information contact Windermere Library or visit www.anotherspace.org.uk