麻豆社

A century ago the children of Steyne School in Worthing were up to their usual tricks in the playground as well known war photographer, Horace Nicholls, was taking their picture.

On the Sussex coast, the sounds of laughter and fun were mixed with the distant thud of war as the echoes from the trenches could be heard 78 miles across the Channel.

One hundred years on, the school no longer exists. Today, the building is a hotel. Less than a mile from where the wartime pictures were taken, the children of Chesswood Middle School have been set a challenge by local poet Roger Stevens.

They have just one week to write, rehearse and then perform their own World War One poems to a large audience of school children and parents.

In 2014, none of the children of Chesswood Middle School are living under the shadow of war but using their own creativity they are about to start to understand the horrors it can bring and understand its consequences.

Brian Capron tells the story.

Location: Steyne School, Worthing, Sussex BN11 3DU
Image shows Steyne School then and now
Historic image courtesy of Imperial War Museums
Presented by Brian Capron

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