18 Aug 2025
Discovering Hampshire's Hidden D-Day Heritage
Portsmouth City Council has been awarded a grant of £239,500 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a new project exploring Hampshire's D-Day marshalling camps.
The funding will enable The D-Day Story museum to work with veterans’ charities and local community groups to survey and record the sites, many of which played a vital role in the build-up to the D-Day landings. The findings will be used to create an interactive online database showing troop movements between camps.
Volunteers will have the opportunity to learn new skills and take part in activities including site surveys, archive research, exhibitions, and guided walks. The project also aims to preserve some of the camps for future generations.
Schools and communities across Hampshire will be invited to join a free programme of events to learn more about the crucial preparations that took place in the region ahead of D-Day.
Cllr Steve Pitt, Leader of Portsmouth City Council with responsibility for culture, said:
“We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players for supporting this important work. This project will help us uncover and share the stories of the troops who passed through Hampshire’s marshalling camps, and ensure their legacy is preserved for future generations.
As the councillor who is responsible for Portsmouth's museums, I am privileged to have gained an even deeper understanding of the sacrifice and bravery of those who played a part in D-Day and the city holds those who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, extremely close to our hearts"
The D-Day Story museum will work with partners, volunteers and residents to raise awareness of the camps’ historical significance and make archive material publicly available.
For information about this project, events and volunteering please visit The D-Day Story website www.theddaystory.com
Contact Information
Corporate Communications
023 9268 8073
corporate.communications@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Notes to editors
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
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The D-Day Story
The D-Day Story is the only UK museum in the UK dedicated to telling the story of the momentous events of the 6th June 1944. The museum is home to LCT 7074, the last preserved Landing Craft Tank that was at D-Day landing on Gold beach and carrying 10 tanks and 45 men. There is also the museum collection which tells the story of D-Day through personal possessions and genuine war time artefacts from the people that were involved in the operation. Finally, there is the 89 metre Overlord Embroidery which tells the story of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy in 34 hand stitched panels.
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