When Tom Martin, History Teacher at Bexley Grammar School, contacted Bexley Local Studies to find out if they had any local resources on the First World War, they put him straight onto the East Wickham and Welling War Memorial Trust.
Tom wanted to teach his Year 9 students about the war from a new perspective, and give them an understanding of how the war affected those people 100 years ago who had lived in their own locality. The Trust was delighted to lend the exhibition created by our volunteers during the Heritage Lottery Fund project to the school, which they displayed in the shool hall during the 2016 Spring term, and also provided copies of our book East Wickham and Welling Diary of the First World from which they used resources both in class and on a trip to the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme. Write-ups from the students are below followed by photographs taken in school and at the battlefields.
Tom’s class wrote together:
We are a year 9 class from Bexley Grammar School who have been studying World War 1. During class, we have learnt about the causes of the war and the trench life for British soldiers. In doing so, we have studied primary and secondary sources to try and get an understanding of what happened during World War 1. As a project, we have been writing diaries about imaginary experiences from the perspective of a soldier joining up in the war. We will follow their journey throughout this term. To help us in our enquiry, we have used the boards lent to us by the East Wickham and Welling Memorial Trust to find out information about the local area and the impact of World War One. We found out that working as a munitionette could be very dangerous and also Bexley council had recruitment meetings where women also spoke, which was unusual at the time. It was interesting to see pictures of Welling during the war; we think we could spot areas where we meet after school. The boards were useful as we can use this information to help us write our diaries and help us learn more about life after the war.
Ypres and Somme Battlefields trip (Year 10 4th-7th March 2016)
by students Helen Norman, Dylan Moody and Aimee Steele
Schools across the country were given the opportunity to go on a trip, funded by the government and organised by UCL Institute of Education, to visit the First World War battlefields across Belgium and northern France. We visited between the 4th and 7th of March as a way to commemorate the centenary of WWI, with an aim for students to provide a legacy for the fallen soldiers by sharing their experiences and knowledge with 110 other people, to match the number of soldiers who were wounded between 1914-1918.
The first day in Belgium consisted of a visit to Lijssenthoek Cemetery, In Flanders Fields museum and the Menin gate, where we were able to witness the last post and truly understand the impact the war had on ordinary, everyday people.
During the period of 1915-1920 the hamlet of Lijssenthoek became the venue for one of the biggest evacuation hospitals in the Ypres Salient. With thirty different nationalities represented in the cemetery, it was truly fascinating to witness the different graves, especially finding out how all soldiers were treated equally with their injuries regardless of their country but also how harrowing it was to see so many soldiers who had died. Each had a mother, daughter, friend, loved-one whom they had left behind.
In Flanders Fields museum had very many interesting and insightful exhibits that shone light on how people lived through the war in Belgium as well as the lives of the soldiers fighting in the war. The interactive exhibit also allowed us to find the stories of different people, which changed from person to person. This allowed us to reflect on what life was like for ordinary people and individual soldiers. The museum was located in the restored medieval cloth hall in the centre of the town; the whole town was flattened by artillery during the various battles that took place near Ypres and had to be rebuilt afterwards.
Personally we found witnessing the last post at Menin gate the most memorable and touching experience. Many people crowded round, in particular local people who proudly remembered the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fell in defence of their town and throughout the Ypres Salient.
On Sunday, we travelled to the Somme valley in northern France and visited the Ulster memorial tower and Thiepval wood, which contained restored Scottish and Irish trenches; Newfoundland memorial park; Thiepval Memorial; High Wood and Pozieres Cemetery. Having learnt previously about the Battle of the Somme and the faults of Sir Douglas Haig, we originally thought that the battle was a complete disaster. However we found that this was not the case.
Ulster Memorial Tower marks the site of the attack of the 36th Ulster Division on the 1st of July 1916 CE. It was one of the only two Allied attacks to succeed on that day. Opposite the Ulster Memorial Tower, was the site of the excavated and restored British trench system. The fact that there were some Allied victories shows that the battle was not a total disaster.
We also visited Thiepval memorial, which looms above all of the trees on the hill where it stands. On the memorial, the names of more than 72,000 soldiers that fell in the Somme and whose bodies were never found or identified are inscribed on the massive pillars. The memorial has a very quiet and respectful atmosphere which allows people to remember the fallen. Although the Battle of the Somme was not a complete disaster, the sheer amount of names on the memorial shows that an unbelievable amount was lost in that region.
ON the way back to Ypres, we also stopped briefly at Pozieres cemetery in order to locate a great uncle of mine (Helen) who was killed in action nearby. We paid our respects and commemorated his death. The walls of the cemetery blocked noise from the outside and created a sanctuary for people to come and remember, mourn and thank others, possibly relatives like myself. I felt very humbled by the experience.
Our efforts in the freezing cold the day before paid off. Throughout Monday morning, it was snowing heavily! Today, we were given our focus question regarding if remembrance is more or less important 100 years on. After breakfast, we packed our suitcases and travelled through thick settled snow to the centre of Ypres. Here, we went into the ‘Coming World Remember Me Workshop’ where we made clay models. They were in the shape of a crouching soldier hugging their knees. All of our clay models (plus 600,000 others) will go on display outside Ypres in 2018 in a similar fashion to the Tower of London Poppies project.
We then travelled to Langemark Cemetery – a cemetery for the fallen German soldiers of World War I. Many in Year 9, 10 and 11 will remember going there as part of a History day-trip. A chilling place indeed. The atmosphere at the cemetery is very different to the Commonwealth cemeteries; the dark stones and the mass grave in the centre show a different type of remembrance. Finally, we travelled to Tyne Cot. Another popular memorial with this school. Being the last site that we visited, our stay seemed short. Our group gathered around the memorial and in a moment of silence remembered all the fallen soldiers who fought for their country whilst laying a wreath as a sign of respect.
All in all, we have been grateful for this opportunity and have learnt a lot and hope to share our insight to many others by completing our Legacy project to share the experiences of those in World War One with other students shortly.
