Roots and Wings needs YOU!

With all the recent publicity surrounding Martin Luther King’s 1967 visit to Newcastle University to receive his honorary doctorate in Civil Law, and his accompanying acceptance speech, now seems the perfect time to announce that Roots and Wings are currently working closely with the Newcastle and Northumbria Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee to develop resource packs for schools, offering teachers ideas for activities to engage pupils with the subject of the Great War, specifically through one of WW1’s most remarkable events…the 1914 Christmas Truces.

Amidst the horror of the First World War, after six months of vicious warfare bringing death and destruction to Europe on an unprecedented scale, British and German soldiers laid down their weapons and came out of their trenches to meet in no-man’s land, where they sang Christmas carols, swapped names and addresses, exchanged gifts and souvenirs, shared food and drink, and in some cases, played football. These spontaneous acts of goodwill and kindness went directly against orders from High Command, occurring right along the front from Switzerland to the North Sea, offering a hopeful moment of recognition of the soldiers’ shared humanity, and an albeit brief rejection of the terrible violence of war.

If you’re a teacher and you have an idea, whatever the subject, for an activity based around the 1914 Christmas Truces for use with Key Stage 3 & 4 pupils, we would love to hear from you! You’ll be credited for your ideas in the finished resource packs, arriving late June. Please contact jake@newcastlerootsandwings.com. Peace!