Worcestershire Remembers at the Guildhall

Meet the organisations who have been involved in the Worcestershire World War One Hundred programme for Worcestershire Remembers on Saturday 4 August, 10am – 4pm. Free for all the family, the event will feature music from the Trench Choir, WWI craft activities in the Worcestershire World War One Hundred Bell Tent as well as readings from WWI letters.

Led by the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, the Worcestershire World War One Hundred programme received one of the largest Heritage Lottery Fund Grants outside of London, and over the last four years has been commemorating the role Worcestershire played in World War One, telling the stories of Worcestershire people, their involvement with and personal legacy from the War. This event is an opportunity to find out more about what has happened to-date as well as looking ahead to the final months of the programme.

Younger visitors can join in with poppy printing and making activities, for all expect displays from the home front exploring food production and the role of women in World War One to an online record of Worcestershire memorials currently featuring over 23,000 names, as well as objects and research telling stories of the men who fought from across the county.

In addition to the Trench Choir the day will also include poetry, readings and performances from concert hall recruiter Vesta Tilley or rather re-enactor Claire Warboys.

During the day visitors will also be able to watch the recently re-mastered The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks (1917), a little-known masterpiece of British non-fiction cinema which documents the autumn and winter stages of the Somme campaign on the Western Front. The film is accompanied by a specially commissioned score by Laura Rossi.

Adrian Gregson, Worcestershire World War One Hundred Project Manager said: “As we enter the final one hundred days of World War One we want to look back over the last four years and remind ourselves of the work organisations across the County have undertaken to remember the impact the Great War had on the people of Worcestershire. It’s also an opportunity for us to look ahead to Armistice and consider what this moment in history meant for our County.”

Sir Peter Luff, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and whose father served with the Worcestershire Yeomanry at the end of the War, said: "The Worcestershire World War One Hundred programme has been a significant part of our national commemoration programme. It is both inspiring and poignant to take the time to reflect on the stories of the people caught up in the War - stories of people at home, at the Western Front and elsewhere that have been uncovered and remembered through the projects and activities that made up the programme over the last four years."

Worcestershire Remembers starts at 10am with the Trench Choir performing for approximately 30mins from 10.30am before the event is formally opened by Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund Sir Peter Luff. The Trench Choir will return to perform at 12noon, expect classics such as Tipperary, Pack up Your Troubles and Keep the Home Fires burning.

Worcestershire Remembers – Running Order

1000 Opening of the WW1 Army Bell Tent in the Guildhall Forecourt

1030 Trench Choir performing outside gates

1100 Formal opening by Sir Peter Luff, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, with Cllr Jabba Riaz, Right Worshipful Mayor of Worcester

1115 Readings from Sladden letters (Balcony) 1914 – Mela starts nursing at Birmingham General Hospital; Cyril is training in England

1200 Trench Choir performance

1230 Readings (Balcony) 1915 – Mela begins work at the 1st Southern General Hospital, Bournbrook, Birmingham; Cyril is about to depart for the Dardanelles.

1245 Film screening: The Battle of the Ancre (Green Room)

1300 Readings (Balcony) 1916 – Mela is still nursing at Bournbrook; Cyril spends most of the time in Mesopotamia

1330 Poetry (Balcony)

1345 Vesta Tilley (Claire Worboys)

1400 Readings (Balcony) 1917 – Mela joins the WAACs; Cyril is still in Mesopotamia

1430 Poetry (Balcony)

1445 Film screening: The Battle of the Ancre (Green Room)

1500 Vesta Tilley (Claire Worboys)

1530 Readings (Balcony) 1918 – The closing months of the war; Cyril is in Mesopotamia and Persia.

1600 Closure of event