YEARS of hard work by a team of archivists in Devizes mean that the hidden histories of a million wartime women are now available to everyone.

The stories of the women have just gone live on the website Kickstarter and bring alive the Royal Voluntary Service's archive which is held on the Bath Road Business Centre.

The collection was saved from storage at a Pickford’s depot where it had been in boxes for many years.

It contains the wartime records of what was until 1966 the Women’s Voluntary Service, covering air raid precautions and services to bomb victims of the 1939-45 conflict and beyond.

It has been recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as worthy of inclusion in its UK Memory of the World Register.

It stands alongside the Charter of King William I, the earliest royal document in Britain; a letter from railway engineer George Stephenson to his son Robert; and the Pont Manuscript Maps, the earliest surviving topographic survey of Scotland.

Collection archivist Matthew McMurray is delighted the archive is now to have a wider audience. He said: "For six years we have been sorting, protecting and preserving tens of thousands of pieces of fragile paper to get to a point where we can start to capture and share these remarkable stories with everyone.

"Those million women, the army that Hitler forgot, were pivotal in the allied victory in the Second World War, but their efforts have almost completely been forgotten.

"We want to be able to share these tales of everyday heroism and those million ordinary women who made the difference. Please go to our Kickstarter page, get drawn into the story, pledge your support, get your part of the story and help us reveal the Hidden Histories of A Million Wartime Women."

Bringing the archive to Devizes was originally the brainchild of Alice Cleland, a former national vice-chairman of the WRVS who lives in Devizes. During 2008 hundreds of boxes were brought to the Devizes premises and volunteers have been going through them, cataloguing them, ever since.

More than 300,000 pages of diary entries spanning over half a century of British history tell stories of everyday heroism from female volunteers from over 2,000 cities, towns and villages across Great Britain – documented at a time when one in 10 women in Britain was a member. If the project hits its £25,000 target, the Archive & Heritage Collection team at the Royal Voluntary Service will begin by digitising the first 28,000 pages covering 1938 to 1941.

Actress, Patricia Routledge who is known for her leading role in Keeping up Appearances, is fronting the campaign. She says: “The women of the WVS made great sacrifices for this country, but the breadth of their contribution has been hidden from view until now. We hope that in making their stories available to everybody, that the value of their contribution will gain the recognition it deserves.”

To find out more about the project and donate, please visit Kickstarter: http://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/amillionwomen.