English Heritage jas announced today, a new mission to bring wider recognition to The Royal Observer Corps on the 100th year of its founding with a search for some of its past volunteers. The ROC which had over 20,000 volunteers and played a significant contribution to national security during World War Two and the Cold War, has until now been one of the lesser-known defense organisations of 20th century. Supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, English Heritage will celebrate the ROC’s centenary through research, education packages, and new interpretation. Starting with a call out for ex-volunteers the heritage charity aims to bring the ROC out of the shadows, share its stories with the public and celebrate these unsung heroes’ commitment and hard work.

Founded in October 1925 the Observer Corps was created to detect, identify and track aircraft over Britain. Made up of volunteers the group played a crucial role in World War Two and was given Royal status following its contribution to The Battle of Britain. During the Cold War there were over 1563 bunkers built across the UK to support the Royal Observer Corp’s work keeping watch against the threat of nuclear attack.

English Heritage’s most modern site The York Cold War Bunker was operated by the Royal Observer Corps and will play a key role in activities recognising the organisation over the next year.

And now English Heritage are asking, did you volunteer at ROC 20 Group Control in Acomb, York? Were you a member of the Royal Observer Corps or a government scientist? Did you maintain the equipment and communication systems? If so, the charity would love to hear from you.

As a nation we are incredibly indebted to the Royal Observer Corps, especially for their crucial role in the Battle of Britain. They were made up almost entirely of volunteers and brought people together from all walks of life. By the nature of what they did, they were inherently modest and discrete about their work but now, in what would have been their 100th year English Heritage hopes to bring wider recognition to their work and also increase our own understanding, starting with finding some new voices to tell us about their experiences.

It is wonderful news that we can support this project to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Observer Corps, thanks to money raised be National Lottery players. We are delighted that English Heritage will bring the heritage of the Royal Observer Corps to the fore and give communities the opportunity to discover its amazing stories through a host of exciting activities.

English Heritage’s celebrations of the Royal Observer Corps kicked off on 12 June in York with Pressure Waves: role playing the end of the world, featuring dramatized accounts of government planning in 1983 as the world descended into an (imagined) nuclear conflict. The charity will be releasing more information soon on further activity to come. The project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

To answer the call out from English Heritage please email info@digitaldrama.org, your data will be processed by Digital Drama on behalf of English Heritage who they are working with to gather these stories.