Local school children remember the fallen of the First World War

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’s Untold Stories exhibition recently organised by Escape Arts.

It’s estimated that 247 men from the Stratford-upon-Avon 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. The exhibition is part of an ongoing Escape Arts project which runs into the late summer and autumn looking at how The Great War affected the townsfolk of Stratford.

The children 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 from Escape Arts said the postcards, letters and poems written by the pupils to the men in the front line had “moved her and her team to tears because they were so touching.” Four hundred postcards were made by the children in total.

The children also made replica models of First World War trenches and German Zeppelin airships.