Funding has been secured from the Lottery Grants Board and Powerco Wanganui Trust (now The Four Regions Trust) to develop a package of local projects promoted alongside other region-wide activities, some of which have also secured Lottery funding. These local projects are:

• The Great War Roadshow.
  We have been around our region to meet up with people and scan and photograph their treasures such as photographs, diaries, letters and other memorabilia. These records form the basis of many of our local stories so we can tell the rest of New Zealand about the contribution local people made during the Great War. Gigital records have been lodged permanently with the Whanganui Regional Museum.
  
  
• Billy Connell’s War.
  The Whanganui Regional Museum had a major two-year exhibition that opened in 2014. It was accompanied by public and educational activities. Photographs taken by a Whanganui man, Billy Connell, provided the focus for the exhibition which is a vehicle for telling the stories of local people during the Great War.
  
  
• The Great War Times.
  This is our newsletter featuring stories and information collected on the Roadshow plus articles researched and provided by the public over the years 2014-2019 of interest. A total of 11 Issues have been published up to the end of December 2018 with two more issues to come in 2019. Copies are avialable online here and more recent issues at local libraries and museums. Contact our email address for more information.
  
  
• Remember me.
  The Wanganui District Library has a number of letters from the Front sent to the regiment in Wanganui. These are to be digitised and transcribed and will provide another marvellous source of information about what was happening during the war and soldiers’ reactions to events at the time.
  
  
• For service rendered.
  Local photographer, Leigh Mitchell-Anyon will photograph a number of indoor memorials and honours boards around our region. We will use these photographs for future exhibitions, in the development of memorial trail guides and other publications.
  
  
• Remembering the unsung heroes of the Great War.
  A children’s art exhibition occured in Victoria Avenue in late 2015, organised by the Sarjeant Gallery in partnership with Mainstreet Wanganui.

For further information about how you can get involved and to contribute information about people from the Whanganui area involved in World War One, contact:

Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust,
PO Box 402,
Whanganui