THE stories of 44 soldiers who died in the First World War have been brought to life thanks to the work of local students.

The Marlborough School sixth formers Alice Hipkiss and Isabel Wheeler have led the project, based on soldiers listed on Woodstock’s war memorial.

The school’s library manager and archivist, Joanne Onions, has been instrumental in supporting the students.

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She said: “After a trip to the battlefields, the girls chose to look at all the soldiers from the First World War on the Woodstock memorial.

“The project has gone from strength to strength, we won Lottery funding to keep on going and produce the booklets and a website, which will soon be launched.

“The booklets explain the background to the project and there are small biographies of each solider on the war memorial, so it’s bringing to life those names and making them people rather than numbers.

“There’s also background on Woodstock during the war and a map to find the war graves in Woodstock – a lot of people don’t know these graves exist.

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“The students used ancestry and Commonwealth war graves websites, and spoke to a local historian – she guided them to find other relatives to speak to.

“I’m very proud of the students, they’ve really took it on board and made it their own, they’ve created this lasting legacy for the whole of Woodstock.”

The project began with the Government’s Battlefields Tour programme, a £5.3 million national scheme which saw secondary school pupils visit Western Front battlefields.