Our Work / Archive / Armistice Day – Somme Centenary School Project

Armistice Day – Somme Centenary School Project

Autumn / Winter 2016

Project Partner: Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life

Artform: Performance, Visual Arts, Music

Funders: Arts Council England

Participants: Children and Young Adults, Adults with Learning Disabilities, Older people.

Together with Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life we worked with six local schools and several community groups to create a unique Armistice Day Service on the 11th November at Carlisle Castle, bringing together music, performance, and textiles.

Activities including artefact handling, poetry sessions, sewing and song-writing.

Each school performed their First World War remembrance song as part of the service and Prism Arts Studio Theatre performed Tales of a Long Conflict, a production about the effect war has on family life.

Pupils also created 353 individual patches that were made into a 46m long Battle of the Somme Commemorative Quilt, unveiled at the service.

‘Thanks to the Arts Council we have been able to work with Prism Arts to develop a creative approach to the Battle enabling the schools to produce a unique lyrical reminder of this well-known battle and the soldiers who took part’ – Jules Wooding, Learning and Access Officer, Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life.

The work produced will be kept by the Museum as part of the collection so that communities can visit and experience the work in the future.