Rural Communities Remember

Rural Communities Remember – Merryhue Farm 01-20 November

Battling On has been awarded ten glass silhouettes from the Community Covenant Grant scheme ‘There but Not There’ for its two day remembrance event which will be held at Battling On’s centre at Merryhue Farm for Armistice Day. The event entitled Rural Communities Remember will teach young primary school children about all those lost to our communities and the devastating impact that had on the rural economy.

The event will be held over two days the 1^st and 2^nd of November and will involve local primary school children, cadets and local representatives from parishes around East Cornwall.

The glass silhouettes will be placed around the farm at different stations where actors playing the roles of the shepherds, foresters, herdsmen, heavy horse handlers, horticulturalists etc. will tell the stories of real people lost to our farms, villages, towns and hamlets to help the children understand the true impact of the war. Within Callington one family lost three sons and we feel these are stories which need to be told and passed down through the generations. At each of the stations the young people will see rural skills being undertaken such as heavy horses pulling timber, shepherds working with sheep etc. and the tour guides will explain how the loss of so many affected the farming community.

Battling On has a replica World War 1 Field Kitchen and will be producing food for the primary school children to taste what soldiers on the frontline would have been eating. The food will be cooked from WW1 army rations packs. In addition, there will be a World War 1 trench for the children to explore so they can see the conditions the men had to endure when fighting.

At the end of the day Battling On will be reading out the names of the young men lost locally with the marine cadets playing the Last Post.

If anyone is interested in this event or have stories or names from their families that you would like to share at the Rural Communities Remember, please let us know.

The contact details are rick@battling-on.com