Youngsters get a taste of 1914

Young people got a taste of life as a soldier training for World War One

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A group of young people from Heywood got a taste of life as a soldier training for World War One on a special day out at Hollingworth Lake.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, the group of around 20 young people visited woodland near the lake where troops camped before setting off to fight in 1914.

While marching to the site the group received a talk on what life would have been like for the troops as they prepared for war.

The youngsters then followed the soldiers’ example by working in teams to make shelters between the trees and cooking around a camp fire, with a popular item on the menu proving to be jam made from boiling blackberries.

One member of the Heywood group was Antony Young, 13, who said: “I enjoyed working as part of a team to put up our shelter. Because of coming here today I now understand a lot more about what it would have been like for the soldiers in 1914.”

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) organised the day.

Ruth Sillence, RBH Communities First Co-ordinator, said: “A good way of honouring those who fought for their country is to provide the young people of today with an insight into what life was like for the soldiers as they trained for war.

“We have lots of wonderful youngsters across the borough and it’s important that they show their pride in what the youth of a previous generation did for us all.”