Our Projects

With the help of our generous supporters, volunteers and funders we keep alive the legacy of people, architecture and heritage involved in the two World Wars, and continue to ensure they remain relevant by linking and connecting the past to the present.

Every project is carefully designed to inform and inspire the public, and especially the next generation, in the story of our common remembrance, commemoration and shared history, offering the opportunity to get involved in this work in innovative new ways.

The MacRobert Trust Speakers & Tour Guides Programme

We are delighted to say our speakers and tour guides programme is generously sponsored by the MacRobert Trust.

We connect with schools, colleges, universities as well as many other social and community groups to explain the work of the CWGC and share the stories of the men and women that we commemorate. The programme offers a range of highly engaging and informative talks which are all adapted for different audiences. They cover topics as diverse as our history, the stories of the men and women that we commemorate, and the horticulture of our sites.

We also offer guided tours of UK cemeteries that contain CWGC commemorations. These are offered publicly from May-November. Private group bookings for more than 10 people are available too.

What's happening near you? Find out here.

Become a volunteer

Eyes On Hands On

The Eyes On, Hands On programme has now been running since 2019, developing from a successful pilot to now reaching national coverage having recruited over 1,800 volunteers. Annington have supported the CWGC in launching this incredibly important initiative which has now reached over 80% of our sites in the UK. It has allowed us to get to know so many of our supporters and enhanced our capabilities to care for the more than 160,000 war graves of those who lost their lives in the two world wars.

Eyes On, Hands On is powered by volunteers like Rachel:

“I wanted to volunteer because I realised how important it is to keep the memories alive of those that fought so hard for us all everywhere around the world. I spoke to someone who had adopted a war grave in the Netherlands and it made me think: Someone is caring for a soldier’s grave that they don't have any relation to, maybe someone is looking after my two times great uncle’s grave in Myanmar and I could do something similar in my local area.”

Volunteer with us

Our Guides Programme

The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation Guides programme offers young people an amazing opportunity to work with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at some of the most iconic sites of remembrance in France and Belgium. It provides a unique experience and the chance to welcome visitors from all over the world and share with them the incredible and moving stories of those we commemorate.

Based at either the Thiepval Memorial in France or Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium, as well as in the CWGC Experience and our Ieper Information Centre, our Guides are the public face of the Commission, engaging visitors, leading guided tours and helping them understand our work. They also write, blog and produce videos about their experience and what they have learned.

As part of the programme, we also offer a social programme of visits and experiences to help our Guides in their role and enrich personal development. We are delighted that, following the pandemic, we will be restarting our Guides programme in 2022.

Interested in becoming a guide?

The Legacy and Story of Noor Inayat Khan - A Woman of Conspicuous Courage

A project supported by an AIM Biffa Award and developed in collaboration with the Girl Guiding movement. This interactive digital exhibition at the CWGC Runnymede Air Forces Memorial in Surrey tells the story of Noor Inayat Khan, a Second World War secret agent and one of the most highly decorated women in British military history, who is commemorated on the Memorial.

Armed with false papers and a pistol, Noor became the first woman radio operator to be sent to Nazi–occupied France. Noor was an unlikely candidate to engage in espionage in the Second World War, but she did so with a “steely strength of will”.

She sacrificed her life for the cause of freedom and 75 years after the war, Noor’s courage and determination are inspirational. The project shares her legacy as a technical specialist of her time, highlighting the STEM skills required of her through a combination of digital and physical interpretation.