MORE than 100 ceramic poppy plaques will be placed around Dalton-in-Furness to help remember the fallen of the First World War.

The markers will be created by Furness primary school children and members of Age UK in an act of remembrance.

Up for Arts Cumbria has been awarded funding to host a series of commemorative events and intergenerational pottery workshops.

The largest and most visible element of the programme will be the plaques, created to help students play a part in preserving local heritage and deepen their understanding of how the First World War affected soldiers and the families they left behind.

This new project will be a collaboration between Up for Arts, BBC Radio Cumbria, Dalton Town Council, Age UK Barrow, local artist Adrian Newham and students from four primary schools in Dalton and Newton.

Through this work, local residents of all ages will have the opportunity to learn about soldiers’ contributions, hear rarely told stories of how neighbours were affected and initiate conversations about the experiences of local families.

This project is being generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and builds on extensive research by Dalton’s former mayor Ann Thurlow.

In 2014 she felt moved to find out about the stories behind the deaths of all 178 men named on the town’s war memorial.

These findings led to local residents displaying poppy postcards on every house from which a soldier left but did not return.

It also inspired Dalton Town Band to begin an extraordinary Last Post marathon, sounding the call at the Dalton War Memorial on the anniversary of each soldier’s death.

This project intends to finalise this work by creating a legacy of enduring markers throughout the town.

The project has also created a website with an interactive map to help people find out about their local soldiers, searching by name, street or regiment.

A poppy marker indicates every home from which a WW1 soldier left. You can search the map at: https://dalton.poppyplaques.co.uk/

Residents who live at an address which was once home to a fallen WW1 solider should have already received their invitation to be involved in this commemorative project.

If you have not received an invitation or confirmed your participation contact the Town Clerk at Dalton Town Hall immediately on 01229 464 000 or email townclerk@daltoncouncil.org.uk