Never Such Innocence 2018 Legacy Tour: 29th June, Warminster Garrison

Our visit to Warminster Garrison in Wiltshire was a brilliant day for us and for all involved.  We are incredibly grateful to Dr Andrew Murrison MP for being our prizegiver, and to Colonel Brooking, Major Andy Cooper and all at the Garrison for hosting us so kindly.  We were also delighted to be joined by the Mayor of Warminster Councillor Tony Nicklin, and the Mayoress of Warminster.  It was brilliant to be at Warminster Garrison, a longstanding, thriving military community where over 1500 service personnel are based.  It is currently home to the Land Warfare Centre and several specialist training schools.

We were in Wiltshire to hand-deliver some special Certificates of Commendation to local children and young people who have worked very hard indeed on poetry, art, and songs commemorating the First World War.  We were lucky enough to meet students from Bellefield Primary School, St Johns CE Primary School, Holbrook Primary School, The Mead Community Primary School, and The Springfields Academy.

We were warmly welcomed by Colonel Johnny Brooking, Garrison Commander.  Colonel Brooking spoke about the value of commemoration to those in the Armed Forces today, and thanked the children and young people for their hard work.

First to receive their certificates were The Mead Community Primary School, who performed their amazing song.  The group had help in creating the song from a local conductor and musician Grenville Jones, and sang beautifully about the optimism that so many troops felt that “It will all be over by Christmas!”, followed by the hardships of war.

The event had an abundance of music, as two of the other schools had also been working with Never Such Innocence Artist in Residence Bethzienna Williams in free songwriting workshops to create entries on the themes of unity and hope for the future, for Together: a UK-German Centenary Project.  St. John’s CE Primary now performed their creation, called ‘La La Land’.  The mixed group of year 6 and year 2 worked well together to write the song and then performed it beautifully.

La La Land
Risking lives
In a war every time
Everyone’s hurting

Imagine a time
Where we just enjoy life
Everyone’s smiling

We were then able to listen to a moving poem by a student from Holbrook Primary School about leaving family and friends to fight in the First World War, and two students from Holbrook then received their certificates from Dr Murrison.  It was so lovely to have the whole class present to support the two entrants!

After being extremely impressed by songs and poems we awarded certificates to students from Springfields Academy for their artwork.  All three of the students had shown remarkable creativity and their artwork was displayed as they received their certificates from Dr Murrison.

Closing the show were Bellefield Primary School – a multi-talented school who had submitted poems and artwork to the main competition independently, and then also worked with Bethzienna to write a song for Together!  Their song of hope and unity was called Peaceful Land:

Peaceful Land
Because in our dreams
We have a plan
That we all live
On peaceful land

And in our dreams
We can see
We work together
All countries

Everyone from Bellefield sang incredibly well, and then received their well-deserved certificates from Dr Murrison. 

After the performances we were treated to some brilliant activities; a ‘First World War Officer’ was stationed in one room and very kindly explained his equipment, uniform, and weapons to everyone, and we had the opportunity to look at two ‘Warrior’ armoured fighting vehicles.   First used in 1916, tanks have come a long way since the First World War and seeing two modern examples was very interesting and of course exciting!

It was absolutely brilliant to meet so many local students from different schools, and to witness in person the incredible creativity and hard work that everyone had put into their entries.  We can't wait to see what else the children and young people of Wiltshire have to offer!

For more information about our work or to get involved, please get in touch via enquiries@neversuchinnocence.com or 0207 836 2603.

Never Such Innocence 2018 Legacy Tour: HMS Caroline, Belfast

We were absolutely delighted to board the last surviving ship of the Battle of Jutland, HMS Caroline, on Thursday 12th June with local children and young people. We received hundreds of entries from Belfast and across Northern Ireland to the 2017-18 poetry, art, and song competition so it was wonderful to have so many students attend this special event to receive their Certificates of Commendation in person.

Before the event everyone had the opportunity to look around the museum and learn about the ship’s First World War history.

Mrs Michele Marken DL very kindly joined us to represent the Belfast Lieutenancy and award the certificates.  Former English teacher and Headteacher Mrs Marken spoke beautifully to the students about how wonderful it is to see so many children and young people writing poetry and creating artwork as a response to the centenary of the First World War.

We were extremely proud to be joined at HMS Caroline by former First Place poetry competition winner Maeve Loney, who read her wonderful poem No Poppies in the Sand. Maeve’s poem is about the Imperial Camel Corps and was inspired by a painting featured in the Fourth Edition educational resource, The Long Patrol by James McBey. Maeve won the competition in 2015-16 while she attended St Patrick’s College Ballymena.

The 2017-18 competition also saw two winning poems from Northern Ireland, and both winners joined us at HMS Caroline to read their poems. Matthew Heaney from Lough View Integrated Primary and Becki Pinkerton from The Royal School Armagh both read their wonderful poems, demonstrating great confidence and maturity.  Matthew and Becki’s poems along with the rest of the winning work, can be viewed here.

Students from Carrickfergus College attended as representatives of more than 100 students from the school who took part. These entries were inspired by the Royal British Legion Thank You Movement and submitted as part of the 2017 Thank You Competition. The 2018 competition is now open for entries, more information can be found here.

Mrs Michele Marken DL also awarded certificates to students from Strathearn School, Sullivan Upper School, and Victoria College Belfast. Every student present received their personalised certificate from the Deputy Lieutenant, and teachers from each school also accepted certificates on behalf of the whole school.

Due to a last minute delay Captain Chris Smith, Naval Regional Commander for Scotland and Northern Ireland, sent his apologies and his congratulations to the children and young people, saying “we have been consistently and truly amazed at the quality of the work you, and many children like you from all over the globe have produced.”

Some students from Sullivan Upper School and Victoria College Belfast, took part Together: a UK German Centenary Project. More information about this project is available here.

We would like to say a huge Thank-You to the team at HMS Caroline who made the event so special, to Mrs Michele Marken DL, and most importantly to the fantastic children and young people who we were privileged to work with.

About HMS Caroline (hmscaroline.co.uk)
Based in Belfast’s famous Titanic Quarter, HMS Caroline is a First World War-era warship now restored as a must-see floating museum with an amazing story to tell. Thanks to the generous support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Tourism NI and the Department for the Economy, visitors can now enjoy sensitively restored cabin areas, a new quayside visitor centre and exhibition space dedicated to telling the personal stories of those who served on HMS Caroline. The onboard exhibition includes a powerful film on the drama of Jutland and as well as an array of state-of-the-art interactive exhibits. The ship opens to the public seven days a week from 10am until 5pm. To find out more about HMS Caroline, visit www.hmscaroline.co.uk