Pupils remember the First World War soldiers who never came home

Shortly before pupils and staff at Shirebrook Academy near Mansfield paused to observe the two minutes’ silence on Remembrance Day, teachers handed out postcards bearing the names of seven local soldiers who lost their lives in the 1914 to 1918 war.

The teachers, dressed in army uniforms, were all from the humanities department.

The postcards were addressed to the soldiers’ families waiting at home for news and gave the names and ages of each serviceman.

They included Private George Hewitt, a 22-year-old Shirebrook man who died in 1916 and whose name is among those commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

The event was organised by Helen Newton, Shirebrook’s head of humanities. She was inspired by tributes held at UK railway stations on July 1 this year, when volunteers in First World War uniform gave pieces of paper to commuters to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

“It was very poignant,” she explained. “Nobody can relate to the scale of the First World War but when you think about those who died who once lived in the next street to you and may have the same name as your friends or neighbours you start to realise the effect that conflict can have on people’s lives and communities.”

Poignant: Pupil David, 12, and geography teacher George Cole read one of the postcards bearing the name of a Shirebrook soldier who died during the First World War

The pupils had no idea beforehand that the postcards were going to be handed out, but on reading them they said that it had brought the reality of war home to them.

“The postcards were a really good idea,” said pupil David Frost, 12. He continued: “When you read the names you realise how young and brave they all were. I am in the army cadets and finding out about someone who died in the war has made me think.”

Fellow student Chloe Blackband, 16, agreed. She explained: “One of the postcards talks about Percy Binfield, who lived in Market Street. I know some people in Shirebrook who have the name Binfield. He might have been a member of their family, which is the kind of thing that brings it home to you.”