Birley Spa Community Primary School is part of a family of schools involved in an First World War Heritage Lottery Fund project which is seeking to find Sheffield stories of the home front, especially about children and their families.
On 20 April, Professor Alison Fell from the Legacies of War team shared her expertise on women during World War I with two year five classes and the wider community in the evening.
The popular community event also included performances from the year five children reflecting on the learning that they had done over the past few months about women at the turn of the 20th century. After the presentations there was First World War food such as trench cake and pea soup on offer. The crowd also enjoyed marbles; sharing their own family stories; taking part in a quiz; reading and looking at the children’s art and writing.
Brad Hill, year five teacher at Birley Spa Primary, says: “This is an amazing opportunity for the children to link today’s world with Sheffield in WW1 – a period when women’s rights […] and the opportunity to work were controversial and important issues.”
There was also a trip for adults to learn about researching Sheffield’s World War I history at the local archives paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was run by Robin Wiltshire, the archivist, and generated an awful lot of enthusiasm and interest in original records.
Claire Ashforth, from Birley Community Primary School was seriously impressed by the honesty, resilience and generosity of such men as Arthur Fisher who spoke to his wife in a letter about having his legs blown off, but everything was going to be all right and he would understand if she didn’t wish to continue the relationship.
A group of children, teachers and parents from the school will also visit Special Collections at the University of Leeds, looking items from the Liddle Collection and discussing the impact of the war on families.
Whitworks Adventures in Theatre, who specialise in exploring hidden histories, are supporting the work across the five schools, their communities and the 270 year five pupils. The primary schools are Charnock Hall Primary School, Birley Spa Primary School, Rainbow Forge Primary School, St John Fisher Roman Catholic Primary School and Birley Primary School. The rest of the schools will continue to have community events and academic experts across the summer term.
Gertie Whitfield, from Whitworks Adventures in Theatre said, “It has been massively exciting to generate such interest in what feels like the distant past. The children have been really responsive and interested. We are really looking forward to finding out the stories that are uncovered.” The research will be used to create a play which will be performed and will be the centre of a free scheme of work for primary schools in Sheffield.
If you have a family story or documents you would like to share please contact Paul Whitfield from Whitworks Adventures in Theatre on 07968293788 or email whitworksait@gmail.com if you wish to contribute to the project. You can also find out more information about the project on their website.