"I grew up in Llanyre and Llandrindod Wells - went to school at Oxford Road County Primary School and Llandrindod High School, then University of Wales Aberystwyth. My family comes from the Llandrindod, Nantmel, Llanigon and Builth area.

When I was growing up I pestered my family about their 'history' especially my two grandfathers - who'd served in the army during World War 1. Both had rarely spoken about their experiences before.

I talked for hours every week with his Mum's father Walter Powell. Walter lied about his age to join up, and this is a photo of him still looking very young, home on his first leave after 10 months in the army (with friends of the family Gwen, Peggy, and Edna Eadie).

Although he was actually informed in 1919 that he would die within a few months of his wounds (he was gassed on the Western Front in 1917-18) Walter died in 1994 - aged 96!

After leaving university in 1990 I worked at Powys County Council in Llandrindod Wells, including almost 5 years at the Powys Archives. My memories of that time include the highlights of talking to groups from Ystradgynlais to Llanfyllin, from Rhayader to Presteigne, about the collections of the County Archives and helping people undertake their family history or scholarly research there.

I moved away when my wife, Sarah - also from Llandrindod - trained as a music teacher at the University of Worcester, and we settled eventually in Honeybourne, Worcestershire - where we live with our two sons, Ethan and Celyn.

Since 2000 I have worked for the University of Oxford on a number of computing or Internet related projects - mostly contributing my expertise as a qualified librarian with more than 15 years experience.

In 2007 the First World War Poetry Digital Archive at the University of Oxford gained funding from the government (via the JISC digitisation programme) to make available to the general public a wide array of archival resources relating to literature of the First World War - including the poems of Wilfred Owen, as well as those poets with a Welsh background such as Edward Thomas and David Jones.

For the project I research collections to be digitised such as David Jones' papers at the National Library of Wales and the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, Caernarfon.

The project is also trying to create the largest archive of public memories of the First World War - the Great War Archive. I am part of a team of eight researchers working to find, gather and preserve as much memorabilia as we can, however unusual, rare or seemingly insignificant, and want you to help with the search.

Do you have memorabilia from the First World War? Do you have a story to tell about a relative who lived through this historic event? If you do and you are willing for other people to see and to use these for educational purposes (but not to make money out of them), then please visit The Great War Archive website listed to the right of this page.

If you would like to deposit material with Powys Archives or for further information on the project contact Catherine Richards, County Archivist through the website listed to the right of this page.

The kinds of memorabilia in which we are interested include: letters, diaries, photographs, drawings, postcards, recordings (film or sound), poems and souvenirs - in fact, memorabilia of any kind.

This photo, for example, is from a recent deposit to the Great War Archive by Christine Tulloch, Bicester, Oxon. This is a photograph of her grandfather Sergeant Ethelbert Clarence Grainger, Welsh Horse, 4th January 1916.

He is pictured sat upon a camel in front of the pyramids, in Egypt only days after evacuating Gallipoli. The note identifies his colleagues, "Sergts: Russell, killed in action 2 7 1916. My grandfather [Ethelbert Clarence Grainger]. Burchell, severely wounded. Wright, killed in action 4 7 1916".

We are also very interested in collecting any stories of wartime experiences that have been handed down through your family.

The Great War Archive will then be put together and the website will be launched on 11 November 2008, the 90th anniversary of the armistice. This resource, to be made available free of charge, will be aimed mainly at schools, colleges and universities."

Article by Alun Edwards