The Great War Committee was formed in June 2018 and have delivered over 20 commemorative events and projects. Some of our research for these projects revealed a forgotten story that must have had a huge effect on Saltash and hence our application to Heritage Lottery Fund.

In 1914 an area of farmland, belonging to Antony Estate, between the southern edge of Saltash and the River Lynher, became an Army Training Camp. Firstly, tents were used to house the troops and in 1915 huts were built on concrete foundations. The town’s population was doubled overnight.

We set about researching the history of what then became known as Wearde Camp through Antony Estate, Saltash Heritage, newspaper archives, Hansard and local (though few) recollections of the remains of the buildings. For the drama element of our grant we commissioned a local composer, vocal coach and dramatist, Julian Barnicoat, to write a musical play based around the story, unfolding from our research, of the Camp from when it became a Convalescent Hospital (from 1918- 1927). Saltash Community School was contacted, and they and their History Department were unaware that the school was built in the centre of the ground Wearde Camp once stood on. We also put to them the idea of an Information Board and they readily agreed for it to be sited on the edge of their grounds, right by a public footpath. Research for both the drama and the Information Board continued. In tandem with the Information Board we aimed to produce a leaflet which would contain information on Wearde Camp and directions to the Information Board. The leaflet will be placed at local information points. We also asked the school if they would allow a plaque to be placed on the school’s outer wall and this too was welcomed. Our Committee have worked closely with the school throughout all these projects.

With regard to the drama, local choirs, music groups and individuals were, through advertising, invited to become the cast of our musical/play. Premises were sought and a timetable worked out for twice weekly rehearsals. Saltash Community School were also contacted again and asked if their drama department would be part of this. Over 50 people came forward and rehearsals began. A local children’s drama group also became involved and rehearsed separately at weekends. Several venues were considered for the performance of the musical play, including Saltash Community School hall or grounds, St Stephens or St Nicholas Churches, or 2 local community halls (with stages). Julian asked for as much background information as possible in order to write the historical piece. His plan was to weave a love/loss/tragedy/hope story set at Wearde Camp Convalescent Centre, the main character being a nurse at the Centre. We decided our preference of venue for the show was St Stephens Church, which would have been the local Church to the Camp, and where there are graves of men from the Camp who passed away. The Church is a 10-15 minute march from the site of Wearde Camp. Our research had also uncovered a newspaper article about a Camp concert to raise money for the St Stephens’ Church Organ fund in 1920.

Permissions were sought and granted to hire the Church for 2 evening performances and 2 days of rehearsals, including use of their self-assembled staging and on-site kitchen facilities, etc. Rehearsals were going well, and the cast were each week learning new songs and dialogue – the story of Lowena unfolded. Moreover, because of Julian’s outstanding ability, many of the cast learned new skills as many had never acted or sang in public before. Whilst rehearsing the new songs, he took the opportunity of demonstrating vocal warm-ups and techniques to improve the individual’s confidence and ability. Tickets were in demand and numbers proved we were correct to have opted for 2 shows. The Church was decorated with knitting and yarn bomb items as the setting for Lowena was Queen Alexandra’s Convalescent Hospital’s Open Day and Fete. We also had, around the inside of the Church, demonstrations of the skills being taught eg saddlery and basket weaving, for the re-training aspect of patients’ recovery. We had ladies in period costume, uniformed soldiers, nurses, and a patient in Hospital Blues mingling with the audience to add to the

1 | P a g e atmosphere. Hospital Blues were the light blue jacket and trousers, with white linings, given to patients who were mobile and they could be worn inside and outside of the Camp. Also, for both evenings, local town bands were playing before and after the show. The shows were a great success and well received, with a standing ovation. Following each show, the fete continued, and refreshments took the form of World War One food, corned beef and jam sandwiches, and a harmony choir sang songs of the era. The exterior of the Church, the path up to the Church and the porch were lit with tea-light candles to provide a welcoming atmosphere. The back of the Church had a comprehensive display of poppy carpets, “There but Not There” silhouettes, a PowerPoint presentation and photographs and information about Wearde Camp’s history.

Our close co-operation with the school, the popularity of the show and feedback, and the resulting media attention has left us in no doubt that we have met our objective of ensuring the story of Wearde Camp and its interaction with Saltash is made known and will be remembered.

Committee members have given numerous and various historic talks and lectures to organisations, retirement homes and schools around Saltash and surrounding areas about Wearde Camp, Saltash Ferry slipway at the Waterside, Saltash Railway Station and Saltash’s involvement and losses during WW1. These talks were given to educate and interest many hundreds of listeners. This has been further re-enforced by St Stephens Churchyard guided walks. These took place on a Friday morning over a period of 2 months, as well as a couple of especially requested walks. The walks were guided by a Committee member who had compiled a leaflet containing a map of the Churchyard, including locations of WW1 graves and brief histories of the deceased servicemen.

The plaque has been mounted, the Information Board is ready and leaflets printed. We are disappointed that, as a result of Coronavirus, the installation and unveiling of the Board has had to be postponed. We will, of course, reschedule this event and the parade of standards, pipes, bugler, poppy carpets will take place with invited guests in attendance. We are confident this too will attract media attention and ensure Wearde Camp comes to, and remains in, the minds of visitors and locals alike.

We would like to thank Heritage Lottery for making all this possible.

One remarkable story that has come out of our journey is that when we held one of our very first exhibitions, at a local community centre, a lady, Carole, who was in another part of the building attending an art class, popped in to see it. She read the list of War dead and recognised a surname. We were able to help her with further research and she became aware, for the first time, that her Great Uncle had lost his life in World War One. This has led to a new passion for genealogy into both sides of her family and she has subsequently found another lost family member in another part of , who is recorded in the book ‘Trusting fully Trusting’. The book was produced by St Enoder Parish Council and was part funded by Heritage Lottery. With our encouragement, Carole also painted a pebble in her Great Uncle’s name, and it is placed in our pebble memorial. She helped make a poppy carpet and was one of our guests of honour at our opening ceremony. The media interviewed her, and she featured on our local BBC news programme.

SUPPLEMENTARY

For information, to inform how we got to this stage, and where we came from, here is a summary of previous events delivered using different funding sources.

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The Saltash Great War Events Committee was formed on 25 June 2018 and came up with a series of ideas. One was a giant poppy carpet where rolls of hessian were purchased, and Royal British Legion poppies sourced. Local clubs, organisations, youth groups and care homes were invited to thread the poppies into the hessian. When full and laid out the impression is of a poppy carpet. The town rallied to our cause and we had more and more requests to make a carpet. We ended up with 17 poppy carpets of various sizes from 1 x 3 metres to 3 x 5 metres, with approximately 55,000 poppies entwined courtesy of Saltash RBL and the teams of community volunteers. In some places, where the carpets were being made by the public, the RBL collection box was available for donations. The first idea to come to fruition was the purchase of a Silent Soldier. It was placed in Saltash’s Memorial Peace Garden and unveiled by the Mayor with RBL standards and a bugler on 4th August 2018. The poppy carpets completed by that date were laid out and our 10 “There but not There” silhouettes, previously acquired, were placed in the Peace Garden and adjacent Church. During this time research was underway by a member of our Committee, who is also a member of Saltash Heritage and Museum, to find all the names of the World War One dead who appeared on the town’s 2 memorials. He first reported that all 96 on the memorials had been traced but 3 more names had been found who were not listed on the memorials. A few more weeks passed and the total of dead during World War One not on the memorials became 44. It was decided to have a scroll made with the names listed to place in the town’s churches, where our town’s war memorials are sited.

During this time, our Chairlady found a painted pebble on her doorstep. Painted pebbles left around the area had recently become popular. This gave us the idea of painting a pebble for each of our 44 forgotten War dead. The idea took off and we decided to ask for 140 pebbles to unite all the fallen of Saltash during World War One. Again, Saltash responded and 140 pebbles painted, many by children, with various scenes related to World War One or poppy scenes, appeared. Each pebble was identified with the name of one of the fallen. A ceremony took place on 11 November 2018, again in the Memorial Peace Garden where, with due ceremony and speeches, the 140 pebbles were laid by 140 young children whilst the roll of honour was read. Our guest of honour that day was former MP, Ann Widdecombe who has family connections with Saltash. Following this ceremony, the Committee decided that the pebbles deserved a permanent home in the Memorial Peace Garden. After several months, and permission from Saltash Town Council, this was achieved. An opening ceremony and dedication of the site took place. We are so proud that Saltash Town Council have now recognised the pebble installation as an official War memorial and were delighted that the Mayor laid a wreath, on behalf of the Town, on 11th November 2019 and will continue to do so every year.

Having photographs of troops leaving Saltash railway station and troops boarding the Saltash ferry in 1914, prompted the Committee to have the photographs enlarged to 2 x 1 metres each and mounted as a notice board on the railway station platform and adjacent to the ferry slipway (now used to launch boats) where so many troops began their journey to War. Also, on each site a plaque was mounted in tribute and on 1 November 2018 opening ceremonies carried out with kind permission of Network Rail and the local landowner. With the assistance of Sterts Theatre Company we carried out a moving tableaux and re-enactment of soldiers going off to war from the railway station platform, to the sound of a steam train.

On the same day, we also held an evening of commemorations at Saltash Waterside. Poppy carpets were laid on the old ferry slipway and our Fire Cadets in WW1 capes and helmets paid silent homage. A slideshow of WW1 photographs, national and local, and the names of those on the local war memorials was projected onto the outside wall of Livewire Youth Centre – the wall is over 20 feet high and could be seen across the into . The Sterts Theatre Youth Group also performed part of a play, written for the World War One commemorations.

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We had 2 World War 1 public film evenings in November and December 2018, at Ashtorre Rock Community Centre, Saltash. The films shown were “All Quiet on the Western Front” on the first evening and “Journey’s End” on the other. A discussion was led following each film by one of our Committee members.

A World War One sing-along was held, also at Ashtorre Rock, with poems and songs from and about World War One, followed by a corned beef hash supper. A large, and appreciative, audience sang along with gusto!

Treaty of Versailles. The War Memorial at St Stephens Church, Saltash is dated 1914-1919 because of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The Committee decided to mark this anniversary by having a service of remembrance at the Church on 28th June 2019. Each of our Committee members read out a passage of events around and about the Treaty and a song about the fate of the horses in World War One was performed. Prayers were said at the Memorial, our Mayor laid a wreath, Royal British Legion standards were in attendance and a bugler played the Last Post. The Mayor, who presented a certificate of thanks to the Committee on behalf of the Town Council, kindly hosted a reception in the Church afterwards.

Poetry Book - We engaged a local poetry teacher and educationalist to visit 4 local schools and a scout troop and encourage them to write poetry about World War One. Firstly, he wrote a 20- minute play, set locally, about attitudes to the War and performed by himself and 2 young teenage boys in costume of the day. The show was performed at each of the schools followed by a discussion and question and answer session about the subject matter. Poems from each of the schools were received and compiled into a professional produced book. Some poems and artwork from the community were added and a balance of views achieved, with the addition of some German poetry. Recordings were made of some of the children reading their own poetry and adults reading some of the other poems from the book. A CD was produced and included in each book.

Too many poems were submitted to include in the main book, so another book was “home published” with limited copies available and no CD included. The poetry book launch took place on 4th October 2019 with a final performance of the play and poems read, mainly by the children who had written them. One thousand copies of the book, with CD, were printed and these have been distributed, free of charge, to all the contributors and schools, churches, community centres, etc.

From 1914 troops, trained at Wearde Camp, would start their journey to the front by boarding the Saltash Ferry and crossing the River Tamar. We felt it would be fitting to have our 10 “There but not There” silhouettes taken across. On Saturday, 10th November 2018, following a short ceremony, the silhouettes were placed in boats at dusk, lit with flashlights and transported to the Devon shore where a bugler and a troop of sea scouts provided a guard of honour. Poppy carpets decorated both the departure and arrival areas and the silhouettes were “seated” on benches whilst a World War One sing-along took place at the adjacent pub. Other refreshments were available in the next-door scout hut.

The Committee involved various local organisations and youth groups to plant over 1,000 spring flowering bulbs and a beech tree in memory and tribute to the fallen of Saltash and all Nations during WW1. Quite an amazing display of Cornish Daffodils, bluebells, crocus and other spring flowers are now blooming at St Stephen’s Churchyard, the Church Wearde Camp troops would have used during their stay at the Camp. Furthermore, the community came together during 2018 and planted thousands of poppy seeds and created a poppy field, in association with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and Church Town Vale Conservation Association. Poppies bloomed all over Saltash in the

4 | P a g e spring of 2019. These wonderful tributes will now bloom in perpetuity in remembrance of our dedicated causes.

Our committee projects involved hundreds from our local community and beyond, including – Sir Richard and Tremaine Carew-Pole, Wearde House, local schools, scouts, guides, fire cadets, youth and sports clubs, church communities, Royal British Legion, Royal Naval Association, Legion and other Military personnel and organisations, community groups such as quilting , knitting and art, dementia, Lions, Rotary, Saltash Heritage, theatre group, local Police, Town Councillors and the Mayor, retirement homes, China Fleet Country Club, Ashtorre Rock Centre, other community centres and memberships, Age Concern, Public Houses, Super Stores, Theatre Royal, Sterts Theatre, and Saltash Environmental Action.

Our committee are grateful for all our promotional and media coverage, which has been extensive thanks to the generosity of our local newspapers, magazines, television and radio networks.

Other sponsors were – Cornwall Council, Saltash Town Council, Section S106, Saltash Lions, Saltash Rotary Club, Howton Solar Fund, Devonport Waste Management, Alan Harper Composites, South West Surfacing, Quickstore, Forder Community Association, SBD Assoc Ltd, Christine Holland.

We have stressed our great appreciation to the Heritage Lottery Fund, which we endorse once again for the Wearde Camp and Lowena projects of which, without this most meaningful support, would never have taken place. Thank you.

For all our other projects we have been most appreciative of funding from so very many sources, all of which had complete confidence in our ability to deliver on our pledges to pay tribute and respect to our forefathers for the sacrifices they made in the name of peace and freedom all those years ago, which thankfully we still enjoy to this day.

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