About the contributor

Hello, I'm Jenni Waugh and I was the People's War Outreach Officer for the West Midlands between May 2004 and November 2005.

Initially, my role was to enable older people who are not used to the Internet to record their stories on the People's War website. We did this by partnering up older people's groups with local libraries, volunteer groups, museums and schools so that story gathering truly became a group effort.

During the run of the project, I met so many wonderful people, young and old, who gave their time and their energies to make this project a huge success. I can't thank them all here, but they know who they are.

Every story teller has been a joy to meet - from my first story at RAF Museum, Cosford, told to me by the lovely Arthur Jones (A2721476), who went on to collect dozens of stories himself to the very last, told to me at BBC Television Centre by Jack & Adelma Haskett (A6983869), who met and married in northern Italy just after the war had ended.

All of my family got involved somehow! My Auntie June Stephenson allowed me to transcribe my Uncle Eric's memoirs of life as a conscientious objector and nurse in South London (A5856591 and A5856681) whilst my mum dug out a wonderful picture of her big brother, my Uncle David Rudhall, as a baby standing in Gran's garden wearing knitted shorts and a gas mask (A8175053).

Stand out stories of the year? It's invidious to try to pick favourites really. There've been so many, not all of which I was permitted to write onto the site. There was a former Coldstream Guards officer who told me about his lucky excape during the night-time shelling of his troop on Pantellaria. Then there was a lady from London whose dog woke them one night before the sirens went off - they ran downstairs and hid under the kitchen table, an action which saved them when a bomb landed on the front of the house - they kept that table for many years after - it was so strong, only one corner had broken off.

Another elegant lady, Lilian Beale, who had been in the ATS and drove a Brigadier about the place in an Austin 20 (A7415273). And throughout the year, I have carried with me the memories of Percy Gegg who left Worcester to join the Royal Artillery and led his battery across North Africa and up into Italy through Anzio, Salerno, Monte Cassino and beyond (A3262781 and A3187163).

It has been a tremendous privilege to be told so many stories by such extraordinary, modest, brave, generous and inspiring people. This has been a job that I will never regret taking.