www.bryntirioncs.bridgend.sch.uk/

Bryntirion Comprehensive School have completed a number of projects commemorating the First World War, most significantly a memorial in the School Foyer. This features the names of over 50 soldiers who fell from our catchment area during the War, all of whom were researched by our students.  Andrew Shell (History teacher) said, we also hold a whole-school Remembrance Service and cross curricular WWI day on 11th November each year. Our local research was developed further during our annual Battlefields visit, as pupils now lay poppies at the graves and memorials connected to their relatives and others connected to the school. It was on our visit to the regions of The First World War that we saw the leaflets regarding the Peace Field Project.  We are looking forward to pledging to continue our research and commemorations well beyond the centenary.  The school are excited by the prospect of being the first school in Wales to twin our playing fields with Flanders Peace Fields.

Valour Patriots Football is a proud member of the Manitoba Minor Football Association (MMFA). Ours is a program based on the fundamentals of inclusion, embracing diversity, and ensuring every youth who wants to play is given the opportunity. Our name and logo are tributes to the history of Valour Rd., which Valour Community Centre is named for.

After a generation without a minor football program based in Winnipeg’s West End, Patriots Football was established in 2009. Our first season saw 65 players registered at three age levels (Terminator, Atom, and Peewee).  In 2012, the numbers grew to 120 players and include all age groups within the MMFA.

Through the hard work of our players and coaches, the quality of our teams has steadily improved, and there are no easy games for opposition teams at Patriots Field. On game days, the large crowds of enthusiastic family members, friends, and supporters transform the neighborhood into a busier, and much noisier place!

Patriots Football recognizes and acknowledges the strong history of football in West Winnipeg by honoring leaders from its past. The Leo Ezerins Patriot Pride Award, and the Dave Donaldson Defensive Player Award are awarded annually by their namesakes to deserving players.

Jimmy Marnoch, GENERAL MANAGER, VALOUR COMMUNITY CENTRE, writes; the history of the Valour Road area of Winnipeg.

Valour Road runs north-south thru the West End of Winnipeg MB.  Formerly known as Pine Street, the name of the street changed to Valour Road after 3 residents of the street all received the Victoria Cross for actions of bravery during WW1.

The West End is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and formed the West End of the old City of Winnipeg before Winnipeg merged together with several other surrounding municipalities. So, in actual fact, there are several other neighborhoods located to the west of the West End, and the West End is actually in the “Core Area” of the new City of Winnipeg.

The West End is a largely working class neighborhood, and it is very diverse (home to many Metis Canadians, Indigenous Canadians, and Canadians of European, Asian, and African descent).

In addition to the Metis, Indigenous, and Anglo-Canadian families living here, the West End has always been a home to new immigrants as well (Icelanders formed a large part of the population earlier in the 1900’s (side note, the first gold medal in Olympic ice hockey was won by the Winnipeg Falcons – a team made up largely of Icelandic immigrants from the West End), Portuguese and Filipino families began immigrating to the area in the 70’s and still make up a significant portion of population, and more recently many families of African and Middle Eastern origins have settled in the neighborhood).

The West End was formerly served by 3 community centres (Clifton, Isaac Brock, and Orioles). Those three centres merged operations in 2006, and renamed under the banner Valour Community Centre, and the sports teams adopted the name Valour Patriots (logos are attached).

Here is a short “Heritage Minute” video that aired on Canadian TV dramatizing the history behind the Valour Road name. https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/valour-road

Here is a very quick rundown of Valour Road from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valour_Road

Here is another article from the Winnipeg Free Press going into a bit more detail. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Valour-Road-Victoria-Cross-medals-find-new-home-at-war-museum-177329951.html

And here is a link to Valour Community Centre’s website. http://valourcc.ca/

Matti speaking about The Peace Fields Project at a conference in Zagreb, Croatia.

The Peace Village are the custodians of one of the world’s most poignant football pitch.  To play a game of football at Flanders Fields is more than a game.  The whole experience contextualizes football way beyond the modern game’ Flanders Peace Pitch is the most level playing field you will every play on’, says, Matti Vandemeale, Trustee of The Peace Village’.  

The Peace Village celebrated its 10^th birthday a couple of years ago.  Can you summarise what have been the highlights in the last 10 years?

The first thing that was important was that we had to fill the ‘hostel’ with people coming over. Now we reach 20,000 people a year who come to visit the battlefields from across the world. Second thing we achieved was to create meaningful and interesting peace projects for our guests. We try to offer young and old visitors, projects, ceremonies, workshops and sports activities – including football, to help them making ‘peace’ more concrete. I am glad we reached the point of being more than just the best bed and breakfast in the region. We are also an active actor in making peace events and guiding people in the region.  I’m also proud that we could translate the story of the Christmas truces into concrete projects e.g. the Global Peace Games, The Peace Field Project and International Day of Peace with the CFA and partners.

What is the best part about your job and why?

The best part is for me when we can ‘help’ one of the young people visiting the region in giving him / her an experience with a lifelong memory of their visit. Sometimes we have ‘challenging’ groups of young and older people who may have special needs or come from difficult backgrounds and when we engage them in history, they contextualise their home lives with the incredible stories of the First World War, especially The Christmas Truces.

The Peace Village receives over 20,000 guests a year.  What memories do you think they take back home and what kind of messages do they leave in the visitor’s book?

Mostly get positive feedback. We try to do our best in giving them the things they need and even more. The memories they take home are usually from the tour they did in the region. They general connect with the awesome amount of facts, stats and names, of soldiers that came from around the world to fight in The First World War can have a positive impact.  We bespoke our programmes to meet the needs of many different communities and cultures.  Things that may work for one person / group doesn’t necessarily work for another person / group. It’s the tour guiding in the region that makes us special.  It is the excellent facilities that provide a relaxing trip.  So, when they go home with a good feeling we here at The Peace Village are happy too.

The Peace Village and The CFA continue to inspire young peacemakers for the future through the Peace Fields Projects, Global Peace Games and International Day of Peace.  How difficult is it to generate funding for these projects and why is finding funding so difficult?

I believe in the kind of projects that we do with the CFA. They are unique in terms of formal and informal learning.  The problem is that we must conform to a tick box culture.  Funding streams are regimental they are very difficult to adapt to with what we do here and funding streams do not consider the long-term sustainability of any one project in terms of development.  They tend to be focused on a current elective government policy which hinders and sense of unity.  The projects we achieve with The CFA are cross-curricular based, they engage young people in football, sports and sportsmanship.  In addition, the projects involve history, art, languages, citizenship, conflict resolution and debates on peace.   Funders tend to be more myopic focused on individual projects. Our projects are a combination of elements, which can be viewed currently as a weakness rather than funders sharing the vision as a strength.

What would you like to see The Peace Village achieve in the next 10 years?

I hope we can reach more people with the educational and project work we are doing, I hope our collaboration in football and sports with the CFA continues to make peace makers for the future and that we can find funding to work on a permanent base without everyday funding concerns. I hope we can play an active role in peace building across the world. So, projects where we make the link between WWI and conflicts and working with young people in solving these conflicts of today.

For more information about The Peace Village click on: http://www.peacevillage.be/