History-minded pupils see work go on display

Historian Chris Hare has been working alongside year-seven children at the school, in Chesswood Road, Worthing, to sift through archives, old photographs and documents.

The findings were presented at the exhibition which was attended by around 300 people over two days.

Mr Hare said: “The Sidney Walter Centre is trying to work with the community and all different age groups and as Chesswood School is so near to the centre it makes sense to work with them.

“I took the year group down to Worthing Museum where they carried out lots of research by extracting pieces from different material.

“They all worked really hard and also looked through the archives at the forms filled in by families about those people that died.

“We also went to Worthing library where we searched through the Worthing Gazette to find out further information.

“It was a really good collaboration and it is quite moving to see 11 and 12-year- olds getting so involved in history.

“Considering that they will not have even met anyone who was in the war and there is no literal connection for them, they were still able to empathise with it and understand.

“They also wrote poems for the exhibition which were of a very high standard. I was really impressed.”