A charity dedicated to uncovering the true impact of the First World War on Chippenham has been awarded £30,600.

Finding the Forgotten was set up to explain the importance of the Great War and help people researching stories of servicemen.

It has also played a key role in ensuring fallen soldiers not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are given the recognition they deserve.

Now the charity has received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The money will be used to build interactive, mobile units to help educate people and youngsters about the war.

It will also contain profiles of the men from Chippenham who served during the First World War and galleries with pictures from the time.

The units will be based at Chippenham Museum & Heritage Centre, where they will provide a further resource for visitors and students wishing to study Chippenham during the war.

Historian and author Richard Broadhead, founder of Finding the Forgotten, who has written several books on Wiltshire soldiers who served in the trenches, said: “We are really excited about the opportunity this HLF grant has given us.

“At memorial services during November we are encouraged to remember those servicemen and women who lost their lives during the Great War, but we never really know anything about them – they are just a list of names on a memorial.

“This project allows us to interact with the period to better understand what these men and women will have been through and to get a taste of the sacrifices they made and the very personal impact the war had on them.

“It will enable us to appreciate how this dreadful conflict impacted the town of Chippenham and the surrounding villages.

“These men and women will no longer be just a name on a memorial read out during memorial services, but instead will be remembered as the individuals they were.”