Year 8 get ready for battle
On Thursday 16 April the Year 8 classes experienced trench life first hand. Mr Ashley Taylor appeared in full kit from behind the curtain in the Richardson Building to give us a view of life in the First World War from the ordinary soldier’s point of view. He unpacked his kit bag which contained every conceivable item needed for day to day life from a sewing kit to a saw capable of cutting down trees.
When he had finished his talk he gave all the pupils a chance to handle the items, many original artefacts from his only family. This included various helmets and weapons including a homemade hand grenade fashioned from a tin of jam. Perhaps the most moving items were the First World War ‘pennies’, the brass plaques given to every family of a dead soldier. His family owned fourteen of these, each engraved with the name of the casualty.
The presentation was much enjoyed by all who attended and provided a wonderful first-hand experience for the pupils who would go on to write their own ‘trench diaries’ during the week.
