25th May 2016

Exploring the impact of the May 1916 Zeppelin attack

Aerial bombing of Britain began in January 1915. By the end of the War it accounted for some 1,417 deaths, and 3,400 injuries. York’s first attack was on 2 May 1916, and resulted in nine deaths and some 40 injuries. This was a new form of warfare that brought the horror of war to the Home Front. With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund for our project we were able to explore a deeper understanding of the experience, and responses to it.

Our small group of local people achieved the following:

• joint activity with schools, providing resource material for Zeppelin plaques, a trail and for school assemblies. Invited to talk to a primary school class
• discovery and use of new historical sources, for example eye-witness accounts and school log-book entries
• engagement with descendants of those affected by the Zeppelin raid
• use of social media to publicise events, including live tweeting of the raid at @ZeppelinWW1Live, 100 years later
• providing material for a York Press feature, and participating in an interview on BBC Radio York
• presenting the results of our research at a public meeting attended by 80 people, and featuring displays by three local schools
• commissioning a film record of our activity, to be available online
• using online resources such as HistoryPin to map stories

To find out more follow this link