Hereford munitions factory remembered as funding secured

Many of the women contracted toxic jaundice which turned their skin yellow

Thousands of women who worked in a wartime munitions factory will be remembered in a new history project.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £77,100 to a memorial for workers at the Rotherwas factory in Hereford to mark 100 years since it opened.

One of the largest explosive filling sites in the country, the 300-acre site was bombed in World War Two, with one attack in 1942 killing 22 people.

Another £24,700 will come from sponsorship and fundraising events.

Many women worked at Rotherwas Munitions Factory during World War Two

The project, known as 'Rotherwas ROF - Front Line Duty', will be launched in January and followed by a series of exhibitions, community events and school education programmes over two years.

Forty volunteers will be recruited and a digital archive remembering the munitions factory - which employed 6,000 people at its peak, 4,000 of whom were women - will also be created.

The Rotherwas Munitions Factory opened in 1916 and part of it remains on the Hereford site

The scheme is part of a collaboration between Herefordshire Council, Hereford Archives and Records Centre and the Hereford Enterprise Zone, which is based on the former Rotherwas site.

Neil Kerr, vice-chairman of the Enterprise Zone Board, said they were delighted to secure funding for the project.

He said: "The programme of events will commemorate the part it has played in our history and record and celebrate the contribution of the people who worked here, particularly the huge workforce of women."