In November 2017, six Meden School pupils participated in the Youth in Action project, learning about the reality of combat from a real life Warsop veteran, Bill Power (pictured right).

The sessions were set up and supported by Caroline Hughes from Creative Warsop, who arranged for Bill to visit the school to talk to the young people about his five tours and twenty years of military service. The pupils were enthralled as Bill took them through a 300 year historical tour of the conflicts and history of the Light Infantry. He explained some of the battles and skirmishes that had played a key part in English and Irish heritage and had forever shaped our country’s future.

One young person said: “We didn’t know much about wars, other than World War One and Two. Thanks to Bill, I now know much more about other places close to home that have been affected by war.”

Ben Melling from Warsop Youth Group said: “It was great to see the young people sit and listen and refreshing to see how much pride they had in their own heritage. The session really challenged their perceptions about conflict and wars. Caroline from Creative Warsop and I were astonished when one person asked about the heritage of the poppy and challenged some of the things they had heard about the white poppy.”

One of the young people who attended summed up the session perfectly when he said: “We need more people like Bill. Bill is so much better than books. He brings all the stories and films to life.”

The talk by Bill was part of a larger programme of activities being delivered by Creative Warsop, a project that aims to explore Warsop’s creativity and give people opportunities to share their valuable skills and knowledge and learn from each other.

You can read more about this story here on the Big Warsop website.