The children form Ernesettle were also asked about their favourite part of the experience
and what they had learnt. Responses included, to favourite parts:
‘I enjoyed the singing because everybody was involved and had fun.’ ‘The slang words.’
‘I loved the drama because everyone put a lot of effort in.’ ‘Making the flags.’ ‘The singing’.
‘Singing and the pictures of people of the World War.’ ‘It ‘s a Long Way to Tipperary.’
‘The drama because you can move around.’ ‘Really enjoyed the drama and singing Good Bye-ee’
‘I loved the drama and writing our diary extracts’ ... ‘Everything.’
Plymouth’s Great War
Interim Report for NYCT
And what they learnt:
‘They had rats in the trenches.’ ‘That it was hard in the War and people got traumatised.’
‘That if you didn’t go to war you were called a conchie and given a white feather.’
‘I learnt that people in the trenches got lice.’ ‘That it started in 1914 and ended in 1918.’
‘The British soldiers and the Jerrys forgot the rivalry on Christmas Eve 1914.’
‘That Russia helped Serbia.’ ‘Slang words like Jossers, and Jerry and Brew.’
What's next? We are now moving into next phase, where we intend to create a portable exhibition. We
are discussing launching the exhibition in St Budeaux Library, where it can be viewed by local residents
and indeed further contributed to.
Plymouth’s Great War Exhibition will consist of some large archive images, including an expanded map
of the area from the Great War period. In addition we plan to include archive material recovered by the
children; some of the writing completed during the workshops; images of the objects uncovered; images
of the children participating; a looped Powerpoint presentation showing images from the period.
It is hoped that elements of the exhibition could be bequeathed to local schools or community centres:
e.g. large laminated images.
Plymouth’s Great War
Andy Blackwell, Helen Greathead, Chris Robinson
Homemade flags represent the countries involved at the start of the war
September 2014
Project intention: to engage large numbers of local children in an experiential look at WW1, to
learn about how the war impacted on their home city and the wider world.
Project Aims: to expose the children to a creative approach to WW1 using drama, slide show
presentation and creative writing, furthermore to provide an opportunity to delve into family
archives and share findings with peers, ultimately incorporating this archive material in our
portable exhibition.
Children share family stories and artefacts. Right: Great granddad’s
Great War medal.
Progress so far: we have delivered our two-day workshop three times and, using a rigorous process
of evaluation and feedback, have honed the presentations to deliver maximum benefit to the
children.
We are scheduled to deliver another three sets of sessions by mid-October and once these are
completed will have seen over 300 children.
Whilst this has been a powerful learning experience it has also provided an opportunity for many
children to visit their future school and break down fears and anxieties.
Pupils prepare the front page of a Serbian newspaper describing the assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Right: Making flags.
Feedback: We have retained the feedback sheets from two schools so far and here is an example of one set of comments and responses collated into a series of tables.