Teachers Notes
This project was devised to explore ways of producing poetry and art with local community stories and the memories of the children involved. It was essentially an art project with the artist in residence working in five schools. The initial sessions were led by archive staff introducing stories from the past relating to the locality of each school. The visual artist involved, Johnny O'Hanlon, was very open to developing ideas with the children and incorporation their words or images into the final piece where possible. The aim was to create a final piece of work to be installed in each school, and was therefore a collaborative work.
More of Johnny's work and his contact details can be found on his company's website www.hamfisted.org.uk
Curriculum links were incidental rather than at the heart of the project. However, through the use of original materials and photographs of local landmarks recognised by the children, and the introduction and research into the lives of those commemorated, aspects of a number of curriculum areas were addressed, especially:
English - all Key stages, breadth of study
Library partners introduced the children to a variety of texts including biography, diary, and poetry, see booklist. A variety of poetic forms were introduced, such as Kennings. See examples in the full Book of Memories. The use of poetry and real life stories relating to places the children recognise provide an excellent opportunity to develop skills in listening and reading a variety of text forms.
History at key stages 1 and 2
Unit 17: What are we remembering on Remembrance Day?
History at Key Stage 3 Historical enquiry
4 - Using original sources. 13 - A world study after 1900
Events: the Western Front in the First World War; QCA History Unit 18 sections 5 and 6
Resources:
The content of personal letters and diaries on this website provide a resource for studying how war affected ordinary people. Larger sections of these documents and their transcriptions can be downloaded here:
Letter SA Ref. 2241/1
Letter written on 3rd November 1916 by Vernon Grainger whose parents kept the George and Dragon, Madeley. This is a letter from an ordinary soldier who has been wounded. He is writing from a war hospital in Bristol to Glyn Davies, a friend in Ironbridge. In his letter he describes how he got injured.
Transcription of letter ref: 2241/1Diary of an Officer SA Ref. 6683/4/249
This is an extract from an Officer's diary, where he talks about troop movements and what it was like under fire.
Transcription of WWI Field Diary
Photo and pages from diary
Diary of Fred Jenkin
This is a diary in private hands, of a young man from a quiet farm in Cornwall, whose life was completely changed when he joined up and went to northern France in 1916. It is included here as a personal document which was shared with the children involved in the project. It is a small black notebook, probably kept in a pocket during Fred's time in France, and changes from describing the beauty of French towns and villages, the daily routines of training and marching, to movement between trenches and villages.
Diary of Fred Jenkin: transcript and background informationSources:
At KS 2 and 3, The District of the Wrekin roll of honour is a very useful resource:
Names from the local village war memorial are likely to be able to be matched via the Roll of Honour, to people who lived locally. This is a book giving names, family and in some cases the former occupation of those who fell in both World Wars, is available to search at Shropshire Archives (SA ref q M 55), or in Telford and Wrekin Libraries, at Newport, Telford and Wellington (reference copies only)
Just this information makes a link between the facts of loss of life in war, to the lives of real people affected by the events.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Debt of Honour database