Wings to the Past takes flight with a new project ‘Bishops Challenge’

Wings to the Past, although largely undertaking projects in Lincolnshire, has strong links to Shropshire and RAF Cosford. The Co-Founder and Programme Director is Sqn Ldr Suzy Watts who heads up the HR Centre at RAF Cosford and lives near RAF Shawbury.

In February 2023 Wings to the Past is starting a new project near RAF Waddington codenamed ‘Bishops Challenge’. Working with our partner Bishop Grosseteste University, over 30 RAF Service personnel and their families will investigate the heritage and archaeology of a significant manorial site. The site has been occupied for over 2000 years so there should be a wealth of artefacts from all periods. Although the project is in Lincolnshire the project is open to all RAF personnel as long as they are able to get to Lincolnshire. Some spaces are available for the February event and there will be further projects later in the year.

Wings to the Past are also pleased to announce that James, the inspiration for Wings to the Past and Digital Manager at only 15 has been selected to be one of the finalists in the ‘Young People’s Award: Giving Back to the Armed Forces Community’ category at this year’s Celebrating Forces Families (CFF) awards. He will attend the Awards Evening at the Victory Services Club (VSC) in London in April.

Wings to the Past uses archaeology and heritage to promote personal resilience in RAF Service personnel and their families. Offering individuals the chance to spend ’quality time’ together as a family or part of a group of personnel. Archaeology has been shown to support resilience amongst veterans and Wings to the Past builds on this by seeking to support RAF families and personnel by offering them an opportunity to work together on exciting archaeological and heritage projects.

The participants at Wings to the Past previous projects have feedback that the projects had been a great success, not only in the fact that they had been able to learn about history but also that they had proved the presence of significant archaeological remains. More importantly, the projects had been an overriding success in getting RAF personal and their families to simply spend time together.

These military families not only got to spend time with each other, something which can be a struggle as “… not many activities we can do together where our military life is fully understood”, but it also allowed them to bond with other families who were, or had gone through, very similar situations and share advice, life lessons and good humour. They enjoyed how it allowed them to learn new skills and gain experience from experts, with one member remarking that they had “… forgotten the joy of talking to enthusiastic experts. A real pleasure to be part of this team.” Others were grateful that it allowed them to learn about the history of a county they had lived and worked in for their entire life “…They helped me learn new things and discover my Lincolnshire past.”

Finally, it allowed many to decompress, unwind and recharge, both physically but more importantly mentally, with one volunteer remarking that they were “… surprised at the positive mental resilience impact” which, of course, is the primary aim of Wings to the Past.

Wings to the Past are in negotiations with Bishop Grosseteste University and other partners to develop projects and sites for the future.

Wings to the Past also needs funding to help continue to run activities to benefit mor RAF personnel and their families.

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