“On Tuesday 6th July Frontline Living History came to our school. When we first walked into the room where it was being held I was surprised by the fact that they were both dressed in full world war one uniform.

As I took my seat I noted the various weapons and old military garb that lay down before me. The first thing they did was tell us about two “death pennies” which were a circle of metal that would be sent to the families of dead soldiers!!

Over the next hour we got to hold all sorts of weaponry from the war. From shrapnel artillery to mace’s, they had it all. One of my favorite stories is about Jam tin grenades. Jam tin grenades were grenades that the soldiers would make themselves, they would stuff anything they could find in, and they would finally put gunpowder and a fuse in. The funny thing was that the Australian soldiers would put in an instant fuse and chuck it over unlit. The German soldiers would think “oh cool a free grenade”, they would light the grenades then BOOM!!

Another interesting thing they showed us was how the gases smelt, and it was a really weird experience to know that the smell of freshly cut grass meant death for these young men. We also learned about how they would treat the soldiers which tied nicely into our learning. In conclusion I am really grateful that living history decided to visit our school and I would like to thank our teachers for organizing it.”  Peter Jansen-Spence,  Year 9

“Two experts on WWI came in to talk about weapons, statistics, uniforms and more from the First World War. The experts gave detailed explanations on how these weapons had been developed and used. Real WWI helmets were also on show for students to look at and try on. It was so cool!”  Joe Gerrard, Year 10

“Especially during these difficult times, it was truly amazing to see how they managed to interact with the crowd and allow us to handle interesting pieces of History. This topic is one of many I find fascinating, so bringing it to life for me was a real treat. They managed to teach our curriculum in about 2 hours and it was really helpful for my history course. I just wish It could have gone on longer and lasted all day!”  Jack Nelhams, Year 10