Patterdale C of E Primary School World War One Project

As part of the First World War Commemorations, Years 3 to 6 completed a project which culminated in an exhibition of their work at Rheged and at Patterdale Church. You can also see it in Glenridding Village Hall, at the School, and read about it in the Cumberland News Article from Nov 2014.

As well as researching the lives of the individuals listed on the Patterdale War Memorial the children also found out more about life in World War One. The work included online research, as well as visiting libraries in Penrith and Kendal to look at microfilms of the local newspapers. Some even visited the strongroom archives at Kendal Town Hall to research Parish Council meetings from the war.  They also researched everything from the local regiments involved, to the medals awarded and the weapons used. The Year 6 children also interviewed the oldest surviving person from the village, 102 year old Tommy Coward.

They even had an afternoon World War One Cooking session where they made (and ate!) some delicious Trench Stew. The children decided to make the trench stew, hard tack biscuits, and beef tea just to what it was like to live on these sort of rations. As Chelsea, one of the Yr 6 said “We are making these foods to give us an experience of what soldiers had to eat and why”. And the verdict? Millie, another of the Yr 6 said of the biscuits “They truly are as tough as old boots”.

The project was a lot of fun and very educational for the children, as well as giving them a better insight into the relevance of the war and the need to commemorate it.  We know that at least 88 of the men from Patterdale and Glenridding who fought in the First World War attended Patterdale School and many of them were also born, grew up, played and lived in the same places and in some cases the same houses that some of today’s children live in.

The exhibition in Rheged ran from July until September 2014 and the display in St Patricks Church ran through the summer of 2014. More information on the Patterdale and Glenridding War Memorial can be found on the Ullswater Memorial website.

Cumberland News Nov 2014