THE stories of residents who lived through the Second World War are being sought for a new heritage centre.

Plans for Castletown D-Day Centre are already underway and will hopefully be opening its doors next spring.

It will show visitors what it was like to live on Portland during the war.

The heritage centre is the brainchild of Derek Luckhurst from Agincare.

Castletown was famously used as an embarkation point for the Normandy landings in June 1944, with this week marking the anniversary.

The centre will take visitors through a reproduction of the wartime dockside and onto a landing craft.

They will then disembark on the 'other side' amongst the injured, post D-Day.

The site will also feature real armaments, a life-sized replica Mk IX Spitfire and Sherman M4A4 tank amongst other WWII vehicles.

Mr Luckhurst said: "There will be vehicles you can climb into, replicas of guns and helmets so people can put them on and experience what it must have been like. Part of the experience will also to be to look through 1940-style binoculars out onto the harbour.

"It's all part of my initiative to regenerate Castletown and there of several assets of it, one of which is an underwater scuba diving park and another is the heritage centre. The Sherman tank from 1944 is coming from France and should be here in mid July.

"The reason for it is how iconic Castletown is, in its relation to D-Day. In the film Saving Private Ryan, based on true events, that man would have left from Castletown.

"Castletown has been part of my family's past for three generations and I remember coming here a lot. It needs a little bit of a boost. There has been plenty of ideas but no cohesion.

"With the heritage centre I am trying to give something back to the Castletown area."

As part of the installation, Bright Button Productions, a production company based in Dorchester, have been commissioned to produce a short film to tell the story of Castletown’s involvement in one of WWII’s most famous operations.

Freya Eden-Ellis, producer at Bright Button Productions, said: "We would love to find a local person to interview for this film, someone who can offer firsthand testimony remembering the troops arriving and what Portland was like during the war."

The filming company and Mr Luckhurst are working with Stephen George from the Broadmayne World War Two Society, a WWII enthusiast.

Freya added: "We would really like to find someone who lives in the area and who remembers the fleets arriving for D-Day and remembers what it was like living in Portland during the war."

If you have an interesting memory you'd like to share with Bright Button Productions, please email freya@brightbuttonproductions.com