Okay, we’ll kick off. Good Afternoon everybody and thanks very much for taking time and coming. We get together here to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. It is a citywide project organized by ICOH with the aid of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The project includes running the workshop and holding an exhibition. WWI or the Great War has very probably had a more profound effect on the course of history than any other single event of modern times. It destroyed one set of empires (German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman) while weakened others (French and British) and unleashed unprecedented political forces. It was a war of epic proportion with global dimensions. We particularly aim to bring to light the contributions made by men from ex-colonial countries in WWI. I don’t like to borne you with a lengthy introduction and if I would I’m afraid we don’t have time. Just before the sessions getting underway, let me introduce our distinguished guest speakers and participants. Joining us today is Prof Alison Fell. Alison has travelled from Leeds where she is Professor of French Cultural History at the University of Leeds. She is also the leader of Legacies of War Project. She will unravel the story of the colonial troop in FW for us. The beauty about Alison - as her students told me - is that she is well-known to deliver very interactive and fun presentation. We have Michael Noble with us. Mike is Community Liaison Officer for Centre for Hidden Histories: Community, Commemoration and the First World War at the University of Nottingham. In his presentation, Mike addresses some fundamental questions as to the standard view of the war as it is understood in Britain, provide some data from opinion polling about people’s attitudes to the war and outline some of the work that has been done in the centenary so far and more importantly how the centenary offers an opportunity to challenge some of the standard views of the war. On my left we have Dr Abel Rivera and their colleagues. Abel is Chief Office of Humber All Nations Alliance (HANA). HANA is leading charity promoting the well-being of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities throughout Hull and the Humber. Given that we were unable to host the representatives of these communities we invited Able on their behalf as he is in one sense the face of these communities. On the right side, we have Stephen Rippon form Hull Open Door. Stephen and his network of volunteers in Hull Open Door have long supported many refugees, enabling them to integrate into the local society and live independent /confident life successfully. We have Tim with us. Tim is local resident whose grandfather like many men of his time joined in Navy during Great War and sunk. Hull, the city that has been hospitable to us, was subject to 8 bomb attacks between 1915 and 1918. The Zeppelins were not very accurate at the time. German pilots travelling across the North Sea at night - often in wind and rain and with poor visibility - frequently failed to hit their mark. Hull suffered as an unintended target when airships heading inland missed their original goal. Hull was again the victim of waste- avoiding in WWII as Hull had 95% of its houses damaged or destroyed, making it the most severely bombed British city or town, apart from London, during WWII. A couple of young students showed interest in our project. They will share what they learnt at the workshop with broader audience visiting the exhibition. And last but not least we have the members of ICOH who worked hard to get this project off the ground. Handover: I will now hand over to Prof Fell, who will deliver her presentation. Prof Fell please go ahead. Break: OK, so we’ve finished the first presentation, would now be a good time to have a 30-minute break? Closing: OK, we’re very close to the end now, but there are just a couple of important things that I still want to tell you. Although the world have not witnessed global war since the Great War, the region we are coming from, the Middle East, remained a hot spot. At the moment, two bloody and intractable conflicts rage on in the region, one against Huthi rebels in Yemen and the other against ISIS. The five- year-old war in Syria has claimed half milion lives. Almost half of the prewar population has been forced to move — including more than 4 million who have fled the country and 6.36 million displaced within Syria. Our motherland, Iran, has just left behind an eight-year war with Iraq, one of the longest classic war of twenty century. As the way most wars develop, this war began and continued as a series of miscalculations and then spiraled out of control and come at an unbelievable. Throughout war, Iranian populace suffered extreme hardships such as foodshortages, bombardments, and blackouts. A generation of young men were fought in front, of which around six hundred thousand were killed and many more were seriously wounded or disabled. The main lesson of the war we want to share with the community which has been hospitable to us is: don’t rush into a war, it might be worse than you think. I am now going to bring the formal part of our workshop to a close.