The Gallipoli Association has used the services of Artists in Schools to hold Gallipoli themed projects. An artist was commissioned to work with the students producing a piece of work that commemorates the campaign.

Education officer Ian Binnie gave a presentations to several schools. Projects have already taken place in a primary school in Coventry, a special school in Nottingham and a secondary school in Birmingham.

Last week there was a two day project in Upper Wharfdale School in North Yorkshire. Students worked used various media to plan a commemorative piece that reflects aspects of the campaign. The best has been used for the main piece of work, in this case a mosaic. This will be installed in the history area. It is hoped to have a dedication event involving the school and local community, around armistice day.

Ian taught four groups in succession about Gallipoli. They worked on photographs, representations of artefacts and biographies of local men who died in the campaign. Their attitude and behaviour was excellent and they showed a genuine interest in the campaign. At the end of each session the students were asked to write down why they thought it was important to remember Gallipoli. Here are some of the responses;

“It is important to remember Gallipoli because the soldiers that were volunteered were so young and many did not come back”.

“The soldiers thought they were doing the right thing”.

“Not all the battles were in Europe”.

“A lot of the soldiers were local to us and that makes it important to remember them”.

“When they were not fighting each other the Turks and British were friendly to each other. The Turks are still friendly today”.