A museum curator is urging people to cast aside their modesty to help create a living history for future generations.

Stuart Eastwood is calling on Cumbrians to dig out family heirlooms, letters and stories relating to the Battle of the Somme – the bloodiest battle in British military history.

His plea comes just days after he saw his team’s efforts realised when they unveiled Voices from the Somme 1916-2016, a new exhibition at Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life.

It is the first major temporary exhibition they have opened since the revamped museum moved to bigger premises in Alma block within Carlisle Castle.

Voices from the Somme 1916-2016 will run until November 20 and commemorates soldiers from Cumberland and Westmorland who played their part in the offensive.

It was a significant battle for Cumbrian troops.

As well as regular serving soldiers in the Border and other Regiments, the battle was known for its use of volunteers including civilians who signed up to the Lonsdale Pals battalion.

The new exhibition features research and items put together by staff and museum volunteers but its most crucial elements are the personal stories of local soldiers who served on the front line, many of them brought in by their surviving relatives.

Mr Eastwood said: “People are very humble about what they may have lurking at home, but we are interested in any information they have be it items, photographs or stories.

“We can scan and copy documents and pictures and even if we have seen a photograph already it is always good to talk to those bringing it to us because it is the human, the family stories behind those in the picture.

“Anything is of interest to us when it comes to this, no matter how simple it may seem. If it relates to an individual then it is important to us.

“This is all about collecting those individual stories and details for now and for future generations.”

Museum staff and volunteers are part-way through a series of roadshows across Cumbria to collect family stories from local residents who had connections to the battle a century ago.

The latest roadshow on Saturday formed part of the Armed Forces Day events in Carlisle city centre.

More roadshows are planned over the summer, stories and artifacts from which will further help shape the Voices from the Somme exhibition.

“What people see now at the exhibition will not be what you see further down the line,” said Mr Eastwood.

“As more stories come forward we will feed them into the exhibition, add more faces, it will change.

“We will keep adding things over the course of the next few months.”

He added: “We are a museum for the whole of the county and so there are many who will have stories to share and we can help preserve.

“The roadshows have been hugely important and will continue to be so, but if people can not get to one of them they can still get in touch.”

Somme-related stories can be shared with Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life by calling the team on 01228 532774 or by visiting www.CumbriasMuseumofMilitaryLife.org

Final preparations are being made for a special event to remember Cumbria's victims of the Somme.

Claire Hensman, the county's lord lieutenant, will be among those paying their respects at memorial in Carlisle's Rickerby Park.

A vigil will be held there at 9.15pm on Thursday, ahead of the battle's anniversary on Friday. The service is open to the public, with people asked to arrive by 9pm. Those who need seating are asked to take their own. At the vigil, there will be a chance for people to lay candles or nightlights.

The event, led by the Royal British Legion, will include community singing led by members of the Carlisle Veteran Male Voice Choir, songs by folk group Thrice Brewed, a Service of Remembrance and the laying of remembrance candles or nightlights at the war memorial.