Pupil's Poem Featured in Centenary Book

Churcher’s College was invited to Buckingham Palace to take part in the Never Such Innocence (NSI) Centenary Finale on Wednesday 7 November. The event was hosted by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and Lady Lucy French, who started the charity in 2014.

A poem by a Churcher's College pupil, who was a runner-up in the NSI 2015/2016 competition, has been published in their Centenary Book, entitled Never Such Innocence which features over 150 poems, artworks, and songs and is a moving testimony to how young people have engaged with the First World War.

Never Such Innocence have been running a competition for the last four years to engage young people in the First World War centenary through poetry, art and song. Aimed at young people aged 11 to 16, entrants choose a topic related to the First World War and produced either a piece of art or wrote a poem inspired by what they had learned.

The Centenary finale at Buckingham Palace saw children from the last four years come together and reflect on the momentous events which took place one hundred years ago.

The Word Behind the War

A holiday,
They said, they said it would be,
A break,
An honour,
A service, you see. 

Over by Christmas, 
They said it would be,
So quick, 
So easy, 
And of course we agreed.

So we all ran off, 
Guns under arms,
To France, 
To Germany, 
Where no one was harmed

And, so they said, 
Where no one's in danger,
So, if that was true, 
Where was John, Joe
Or that stranger?

Sleeping, 
They said, they said that they were
Dreaming,
Peaceful,
And all I could do was concur

So as I went over, 
And started to snore,
I hoped
That my family
Wouldn't trust the word behind the war.

'Never Such Innocence: The Centenary of the First World War' is available to purchase in hardcover from bookshops and online here.