It’s time for an update on our World War 1 project.

Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund,  year 7 and 8 history detectives have been hard at work  commemorating the outbreak of WW1. There are 16 of them now and each one has adopted a serviceman from the roll of honour on the Cullercoats war memorial.  We’ve spent the last couple of months researching the men’s lives. We even met some of the relatives at our community memory day at St George’s Church Hall. We’ve visited some of their houses on a walk around Cullercoats village and we’ve accessed the amazing Tynemouth World War One archive with the help of researcher, Marie Caffrey.

The huge impact of the conflict on ordinary lives becomes very apparent every time we meet. Here are some of the tragic stories we’ve uncovered:

• Samiul, Beth and Georgia have adopted the 3 Carr brothers of Eleanor Street – all 3 young men  killed in action.
• Jessica and another Beth have also adopted some brothers: George and Thomas Mcintyre of Beverly Terrace who died within a week of one another in July, 1916.
• Jonny has chosen Charles Ridgeway who died of his wounds in the very house that Jonny and his family live in today.
• Connor has opted for Reuben Seddon of Front Street. Reuben came home on leave, but couldn’t face saying another goodbye to his wife nor returning to the horrors of  the western front. He was arrested for being absent without leave and sentenced to 18 months hard  labour at York prison. Before transportation, he wrote to his wife from gaol in Whitley Bay, threatening to take his own life. She managed to speak to him at Whitley Bay Station before he was put on the York train , but she couldn’t save him. He hung himself that night. Nowadays, Reuben would have been treated for post traumatic stress. All credit to the people of Cullercoats for including him on their roll of honour – if only the army authorities had been so understanding.

These are just a few of the stories the history detectives have discovered. They are now determined to find other forms of memorial, to guarantee that the names live on. They have volunteered to raise money for blue plaques for the houses of the Cullercoats fallen as has already been done in North Shields, thanks to Tynemouth World War One. Father Adrian Hughes of St.George’s has asked us to find the names of those men from Cullercoats who somehow missed inclusion on the war memorial. He would like there to be a new and complete roll of honour on show in the church. So very soon we’ll be visiting the archive at Woodhorn Museum to see what we can find.

I must say that it has been an inspirational experience for me to co-ordinate the project. I also love the idea that Marden High will be instrumental in providing individual memorials to these brave local men. They would be amazed to know that children born in the next century are so determined that they are not forgotten.