Exhibition remembers those who paid the ultimate sacrifice

THE untold stories of those who fought and lost their lives in the Great War were brought vividly back to life by local primary school children who took part in the World War One — Stratford-upon-Avon's Untold Stories exhibition organised by Escape Arts.

It is thoughts that 247 men from the Stratford area answered the call to arms and died in battle all over Europe, and to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, school children submitted postcards, letters and poems to the fallen as part of the exhibition, which was held at Stratford Town Hall on Friday, 2nd July.

The children had made 390 sweetheart cushions just as the soldiers in the trenches and their loved ones back home would have made as a pledge of love for each other.

All schools across Stratford were involved and Karen Williams, artistic director at Escape Arts, said the postcards, letters and poems written by the pupils to the men in the frontline had “moved her and her team to tears because they were so touching.” Four hundred postcards were made by the children in total.

They also made replica models of First World War trenches and German Zeppelin airships. The Escape Arts project will be expanded in the autumn when a second exhibition at The Old Slaughterhouse is planned looking at how the conflict affected the lives of ordinary people back in Stratford.

The project has been funded through Heritage Lottery Funding.