CHRISTMAS TRUCES

FOOTBALL AND PEACE 

EVALUATION REPORT

2014

FOOTBALL AND PEACE EVENT PROGRAMME

First World War Centenary: one year to go

Communities across the UK begin marking the First World War Centenary thanks to Lottery funding

 99 years since the UK entered the First World War, communities across the country have been given the green light to start a range of projects that will mark the forthcoming Centenary thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Grants announced  August 2013 include the first to be awarded through First World War: then and now, HLF’s £6million small grants programme announced by the Prime Minister at the Imperial War Museum last October which aims to help communities explore, conserve and share their First World War heritage.

Now, young people in Kent will explore the role of football during the 1914 Christmas Day Truce; blind and partially sighted groups in Wolverhampton will begin researching how the war advanced ophthalmic medicine; people across the UK will investigate the names commemorated on their local war memorials including Abbotskerswell in Devon; the contribution of Scotland’s nurses to the war effort will be shared and marked; whilst the story of soldiers from Bolton who fought and died at Gallipoli will be remembered.

Paul Cooper

HLF’s First World War: then and now forms part of the UK Government’s Centenary programme.  National Children’s Football Alliance Projects Director Paul Cooper said: ‘This an important time to remember and a period in history that young people should have the opportunity to discover, discuss and contemplate.  HLF’s forward thinking provides organisations like NCFA to engage all young people, which will help continue the remembrance link’.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Our duty with these commemorations is clear. To honour those who served. To remember those who died. And to ensure that the lessons learnt live with us for ever.”

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, said:  “The impact of the First World War was incredibly far reaching. Our new programme only opened in May and already HLF has seen a great deal of interest in people wanting to commemorate this important Centenary, coming forward with a myriad of fascinating ideas for projects. This is just the beginning of some very interesting explorations for communities everywhere who will find their own individual ways of commemorating.”

HLF has already invested more than £15million in projects – large and small – that mark the Centenary of First World War.

Football & Peace Project – National Children’s Football Alliance, Kent (grant £32,500)

This project will use the iconic 1914 Christmas Day truces as a vehicle to explore the relationship between sport and the First World War. Local people across Kent, young and old, will research the impact of the War on local communities and will in particular look at the importance of recreation to soldiers during the conflict.  A documentary film of the project will be produced along with a website including the research and oral histories collected.  The project will culminate in a final exhibition at Maidstone United Football Club, Gallagher Stadium.

CHRISTMAS TRUCES RESOURCES

The anniversary of the First World War provides a wonderful opportunity to challenge perceived understandings of the conflict and to engage those who do not relate to the subject in any way. It is also an excellent opportunity to create dialogue; to find out how people understand the conflict and engage with the processes that have shaped, or failed to shape, their conceptions. In order to enhance the knowledge of those who already have some interest in the conflict, it might be useful to push them in different directions (for instance, the role of sport at home and abroad) and open up other perspectives and contexts. The following resources may be of help in trying to facilitate such a process and consists of a series of challenges to what might be called the primary points of entry into the history of the war:

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The Football Remembers education pack for teachers is designed to offer support and resources for pupils learning about the Truce events that took place in 1914, during the First World War.

Rugby Football Union programmes from matches played during the war, 1915 and 1917 are available.  They are for charity matches played between local teams and armed services of Canada and New Zealand.

There is one player who comes to mind as having formed his own battalion and that was Edgar Mobbs. He played for Northampton and England. He was initially turned down to join the army as he was deemed as too old. He then went on to raise his own battalion of 250 men. He was killed in action at Ypres in 1917.

The England v Scotland action shot is taken from 1914 .  All the jerseys would have been cotton, they didn’t have a standard rose and the players would have worn their club socks.

Saturday March 21, 1914: Scotland line up against England in Edinburgh. England won the closely fought match 16-15, but a very different conflict was about to engulf Europe…

Both captains, a number of forwards and the majority of the backs who competed in this particular match never returned from the devastation of World War I. An incredible number of international rugby players died in both world wars and ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’ is our tribute to them all.

‘Gone But Not Forgotten’ was curated with the invaluable help and support of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

It is written in the RFU minutes that they wanted to form a rugby battalion but by the time the notion had come about most of the players had already signed up.

Click on English Rugby Union and the First World War

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An Open Educational Resource supporting new directions in teaching World War I

http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/

http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/about/

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WW1 Chatter Books Activity Pack

http://readingagency.org.uk/children/003-tips/wwi-chatterbooks-activity-pack.html

http://readingagency.org.uk/children/WW1%20pack%202.pdf

http://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/chatterbooks/

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http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/vcdathleticfc/a/club-history-34803.html

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I am a retired teacher but still in demand in my home area of Gloucestershire, as a tutor of English and across the Humanities, from 11-18. I used to be an editor of www.footballpoets.org and still occasionally contribute. I am heavily involved in the football in the trenches scenario with local schools, community and Philosophy Football. My current brief is to develop a unit of work for a term on Literature andWW1 – I have completed this and have obviously included the Christmas 1914 events.  I am here to share good practice and I hope you enjoy the free downloads. I support this wonderful Football & Peace Project and wish you all good luck in your work.

Stuart Butler.

Click on the following resources:

POWERPOINT:

realityofwar2 / rupertbrooke2 / warpoets2 / Wildfred_Owen_Dulce2C / World_War_One_Poetry2A / Poppy powerpoint

PDF:

SWYA Educational Resource

WORD DOCS:

Christmas 1914 / CHRISTMAS TRUCE / Regiments from which Battalions Truced and Fraternized Christmas 1915 / The Best Christmas Present in the World / The Great War in Snatches of Songs and Transcripts from / This is the running order2

 First World War Centenary Partnership 

http://www.1914.org/partners/

The First World War Centenary Partnership is a network of over 1,400 local, regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations led by IWM (Imperial War Museums).

Together, we will present a vibrant global Programme of cultural events and activities, and digital platforms which will enable millions of people across the world to discover more about life in the First World War.

Being a member of the Partnership gives each one of us a stronger collective voice, visibility through the First World War Centenary brand and website, access to a wealth of expertise and resources and the opportunity to promote our events through a centenary calendar on 1914.org.

Imperial War Museums

IWM is unique in its coverage of conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. We seek to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and ‘wartime experience’. We are proud to be regarded as essential sights of London, Cambridgeshire and Greater Manchester.

http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/frequent-questions.php

(Launching 20/02/14.)

National Football Museum

Learn about pre-Association Football from mob-football, uppies and downies and public school games, to the hand written laws of the game following the formation of the Football Association in 1863. Be inspired by our unique collection, looking at football as a working class game, the changes from amateurism to professionalism, and its worldwide popularity as a modern game. Links to A Level P.E syllabus.

LINKS

HOW DID BRITAIN THINK FOOTBALL  COULD HELP WIN WW1 

The British Army had recognised the value of sport since the 1800s, but the First World War saw football become a key tool in preparing a new army of young civilians for life on the front line.

Kent in World War One is a website; funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund; dedicated to the Kent Coastal Towns and the role they played in The First World War. Visit www.kentww1.com to discover more about the people and events in Kent and their locations. Ensure your town or family are represented on our site by sharing with us family photographs, service records, or postcards and we will locate them on your town map to be a visual part of the history of Kent in the First World War. Share with us family memories so that we can tell your family’s story and show what life was like for all those who lived in Kent during this time. Please note that this is open to any school or youth organisation project and all submitted content is fully attributed. If your group would like to have a link on our website please contact us at info@kentww1.com

For any further information please contact darrienne.price@screensouth.org or barbara.welch@screensouth.org

KENT & MEDWAY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

This timeline of events across the county during World War 1 was researched by Time2Give volunteers using the archives at the Kent History and Library Centre. It is part of a series of information and activities we are organising as part of the First World War Centenary to commemorate those who lived, fought and died in the First World War.

Among the 14km of historical documents held in the Kent History and Library Centre, there are many important collections relating to the First World War.

For example, there is a collection of 22 albums of letters sent by the First World servicemen of Great Chart village in reply to correspondence from The Friends of Great Chart. As well as letters, field cards, postcards and photographs, the albums contain memorabilia: There are concert and sports programmes, memorial cards, embroidered cards, Christmas cards, local newspaper cuttings, pressed flowers, bookmarks, and leaflets. There is even a copy of the Baghdad Times!

Anyone who wants to learn more about Kent’s role in the First World War can visit the Kent History and Library Centre, access the library catalogue or the archive catalogue.

Local history collections are also available in the main district libraries, including census records, photographs, maps, newspapers, memorabilia and books.

GATEWAYS TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Welcome to Gateways to the First World War. We are an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded centre for public engagement with the First World War centenary. Gateways is managed by the University of Kent in partnership with the Universities of Brighton, Greenwich, Portsmouth, Leeds and Queen Mary, London, and supported by a range of other institutions. The aim of the Gateways team is to encourage and support public interest in the conflict through a range of events and activities such as open days and study days, providing access to materials and expertise, and signposting for other resources and forms of support.

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The Shorncliffe Trust is currently working towards creating the UK’s first Heritage Park & Education Centre dedicated to the history and legacy of the modern British Army.

Shorncliffe has been on the frontline of this country for over 200 years and has a unique history that is tied into world history events from the Napoleonic wars through to World War II. It is rare to find one military site in the world that has influenced and changed so much about the way today’s soldiers fight and operate on battlefields in the 21st century.

The centre at Shorncliffe will examine its military history and the impact (both social and cultural) the army camp made over the centuries both locally and internationally.

Shorncliffe has welcomed different nationalities from around the world and, in this corner of Kent, hosted royalty and leaders from a variety of nations.

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The diaries of Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch, a  German WW1 soldier , were discovered by his son while clearing out the family loft. Rudolf was astonished to find  that his father had helped initiate the infamous ceasefire of 1914 . “My father had studied in France. He also visited England. He went on a day trip to […]

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