THE story of a nurse decorated for her service during the First World War will be told almost a century later in a new film.

Sister Kate Maxey, a shopkeeper's daughter from Spennymoor, was one of the first recipients of the International Red Cross's Florence Nightingale Medal in May 1920.

To celebrate her service, and that of other Spennymoor people who contributed to medical services during the Great War, Tudhoe and Spennymoor Local History Society has commissioned a film called Behind The Lines.

With a £10,000 National Lottery Grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the group has commissioned Lonely Tower Film and Media to make the film.

Sister Maxey was a highly qualified nurse before the conflict and went on to serve in casualty clearing stations and hospitals behind the Western Front for three and a half years before she was wounded in a German air raid.

Her descendants have made her photographs, letters and artefacts available for the Society's research and work by other amateur historians will be used.

Members are also working with Durham County Council's Durham at War Project and the DLI Collection and experts such as Professor Christine Hallett, of the UK Association for the History of Nursing.

John Banham, who is coordinating the project for the Society, said members want to give insight into an often overlooked part of the war.

He said: "The nation had to mobilise tremendous resources to help wounded soldiers on the Western Front and the historical material available relating to Kate Maxey and other Spennymoor people will, I believe, allow the film to show this.

"Research by Spennymoor residents and the cooperation of Kate Maxey's family in making her personal archive material available will be supplemented by expert testimony about First World War medical services."

Filmmaking will start shortly and Mark Thorburn, from Lonely Tower Film and Media, believes the project will highlight an essential and rapidly evolving aspect of the First World War as medical services adapted to cope with conflict on a mechanised scale.

He said: "By telling the stories of local people in extreme circumstances, we hope to bring their lives out of the shadows and onto the big screen for all to see and engage with, creating a lasting and fitting tribute."

Ivor Crowther, head of HLF North East, added: "We're pleased to support this project which will share the story of Sister Kate Maxey and explore the legacy of the First World War from the perspective of those who served in medical support services."