'Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty'

This project was funded by NLHF, with small cash contributions given by Warrington Borough Council (WBC) alongside in-kind contributions from Culture Warrington. Fifteen volunteers worked with 'Not Too Tame', a professional theatre company. Participants researched and discussed various stories from local people involved in the First World War, selecting a number of case studies to focus on. Working with the director, a script was written and a performance piece then rehearsed over a period of twelve weeks. The piece was accompanied by live music from a local band. Performances took place on Saturday 3rd November in an outdoor space within Warrington's Golden Square Shopping Centre. Situated on the fringe of the Shopping Centre, we also created a 'Blighty Club' in Holy Trinity Church, open daily (except Sundays) throughout November 2018. The church café was decorated in the style of a war-era 'Blighty Club', with members of the public able to drop by and listen to music from the period whilst enjoying refreshments. The Church partnered with the Museum of Warrington to assemble a subsidiary exhibition located in the main body of the Church. This looked at the experiences of people from Warrington during the conflict. A local voluntary art group additionally displayed their World War One exhibition in the church. Staff from Warrington Museum gave themed talks, and the project held a poetry performance and an orchestral concert featuring wartime songs. The WBC Neighbourhoods Team created a ‘Blighty Box’, designed to help community centres, schools and libraries discover what local life was like in 1918. Its contents included music from that era, fact sheets, propaganda posters, bunting, flags and films. Some communities embraced this theme by adapting existing or creating their own events, such as making ‘trench cake’ or hosting wartime buffets. A George Formby (who lived in Warrington) tribute performed at several local community centres. Furthermore a dance practitioner delivered six weeks of curriculum-led dance in two schools, based upon various World War One themes - including recruitment, propaganda, Pals battalions, conscientious objectors and trenches. This initiative led to a performance held on the 10th December 2018 at the Pyramid Arts Centre. It was hoped the piece would inspire teachers in future to focus upon these topics as part of the history curriculum. Overall the entire project achieved the following outcomes: raising awareness of the impacts of World War One on Warrington and its people throughout communities/schools/individuals; increased engagement in heritage activities through interactive participation; developing individual research skills and encouraging interaction with Warrington Museum-held source material; stories behind local war memorials and archived press stories becoming part of a theatre piece that involved volunteers not previously engaged in heritage (whilst also inspiring groups to conduct research into local people or ancestors); involvement in the theatre piece developed participant self-confidence; reaching wider audiences such as schools, scout groups and other local community groups via project engagement activities; the creation of a new partnership model that brought together local history groups, a local church, the Museum of Warrington and a theatre group.