At the beginning of the Second World War, Malvern resident Lorna Lloyd wrote a diary, which was recently given to the Malvern Museum of local history in Great Malvern. It chronicles her experience during the first few months of World War II while living in Malvern and contains her poetry.
A team of academic staff and students from the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University have converted the war diary entries into a podcast series. The project has been made possible with research project funding from Creative Informatics (AHRC), and the support of the BBC Archive, the British Newspaper Archive (British Library/FindMyPast), and the Malvern Museum of Local History.
The launch event for the podcast series ‘Diary of the war’ takes place at Great Malvern Priory on Tuesday 24 May. The launch event runs throughout the day and into the evening. Talks on the making of the podcast series and Lorna’s wartime experiences within the Malvern context will take place in the afternoon of 24 May from 2:30pm-4:30pm, and repeated again that evening 5:30pm-7:30pm. The event is free, but tickets need to be booked in advance through Eventbrite: click here to book
There will be an opportunity to meet the teams behind the project and several members of the Lloyd family will also be participating at the event, including Lorna’s great-great niece Bethany Ray, who plays Lorna in the podcast series.
Event Schedule
Afternoon
2:00: Event opens, and refreshments*
2:30: Lorna’s life in Malvern – presentation by Faith Renger, Curator of Malvern Museum of Local History
3:30: Lorna’s Diary of the war, and poetry – selected readings by Bethany Ray, actor
4:00: Q&A panel with members of the podcast project team – David Graham, Professor Hazel Hall, Dr Bruce Ryan, and Marianne Wilson of Edinburgh Napier University; Faith Renger of Malvern Museum of Local History
4:30: Refreshments*
Evening
5:00: Refreshments*
5:30: Lorna’s life in Malvern – presentation by Faith Renger, Curator of Malvern Museum of Local History
6:30: Lorna’s Diary of the war, and poetry – selected readings by Bethany Ray, actor
7:00: Q&A panel with members of the podcast project team – David Graham, Professor Hazel Hall, Dr Bruce Ryan and Marianne Wilson of Edinburgh Napier University; Faith Renger of Malvern Museum of Local History
7:30: Event closes
*Tea, coffee and biscuits 1940s-style will be available during the event. Malvern Priory is close to a number of cafes and restaurants for those interested in something more substantial. Please see this list on the ‘Visit The Malverns’ website here
The project team acknowledges the support of the sponsors of the project to create the podcast series and host this launch event: the BBC Archive, the British Newspaper Archive (British Library/FindMyPast), Creative Informatics (AHRC), Malvern Museum of Local History, and the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University.
For further information, please contact Dr Bruce Ryan: [email protected]
