page 1 TYPE OF MATEIA This is suitable for use with children in the Junior school age range. It is based on archives at Silcoates and from war reports of the time. The people from Silcoates were real people who were at the school during WW1. It was written for Silcoates Juniors which is why there are lots of parts, but you can double up the parts if you don t have so many readers/actors. The sections set in Silcoates, with Mr and Mrs Younge and the two Weatherill boys could be played as one local family in any town. You can fit other carols or songs in between the scenes if you wish. Parts 14 Narrators (but they can double up) 8 readers of bible readings 7 soldiers 1 football player called Ernie Williams Silcoates boys: ichard and awrence Weatherill Mr and Mrs Yonge (the Headmaster and his wife) Setting The stage needs places for readers and in the middle a table and chairs which is Silcoates where the boys write their letters and Mr and Mrs Yonge eat their breakfast. N1 Welcome to our Junior Christmas Service. This year we are remembering events 100 years ago during the Great War. N2 The war began in August 1914, and people thought it would be over by Christmas, but by December it was still going on. N3 There had been several battles and more troops had been sent to the Western Front in Belgium and France. N1 This included some who had been students at Silcoates before the war began. Some of those had brothers who were still at Silcoates. N2 One family affected in this way were the Weatherill family from Saltburn. Their father, Captain Weatherill, a merchant seaman, sent all six of his sons to Silcoates. Three of them fought in the war. N3 Two of them were still at Silcoates. et s listen to them now and find out what they were doing and thinking about.
page 2 Scene 1: Dear Will = ichard Weatherill = awrence Weatherill his older brother Y Mr Yonge, Headmaster ichard is writing a letter How do you spell Will? (slowly) W, I,, ichard writes it carefully, biting his pencil as he did so. What are you going to write next? Not sure, Shall I tell him about the newt I found? Good idea. He d like to know about that. ichard starts writing again How do you spell newt? N, E, W, T ichard writes them down. Difficult isn t it? Yeh. I m not clever with spelling. I know, but you re good at other stuff. ook how you remember the names of loads and loads of animals and insects and plants and stuff. You re really good at natural history. Yeh, I found a slow worm once. But I m not good at letters and I want to write to Willie, and to Cecil and John. Don t worry. Write to Willie first and then you can write the same thing to Cecil and to John afterwards. After all, it s not as it they are likely to see each other. I really miss them. I miss them too. I want them to come home. Do you think the war will be over by Christmas? I m not sure. et me look at what you ve written to Willie and while I m checking it, why don t you start writing to John.
page 3 They do that Shall we send them something, do you think? ike what? Maybe I could do a picture of the newt. That would be just the thing. You re awfully good at drawing. ichard smiles and gets out his pencils, starting work on the newt straight away. What are you going to send? I copied out this poem for John Have you got anything we could send to Willie? I made a bookmark (offers it over to awrence) Maybe we could put a message on the other side. (awrence turns it over and had a think. ) Mr Yonge, ong John as they all call him, comes into the room and sees their heads bent over the letter writing. He comes over to their table and sits down carefully on one of the spare chairs. Y Y Y How are you getting on boys? Writing to our brothers at the front, Sir Well done boys. My word that s a good newt. It s for my brother John, Sir. It s the one I found in the pond. First class, Weatherill minor There s one more minor than me Mr Yonge. He s still at home in Saltburn with mother. Y Ah, well he ll probably not be here for a couple of years yet then. You can be minor until then. (passes Yonge the bookmark) I was wondering what to write on this for Willie, Sir. ichard made it and we were going to put a message on it for him. Perhaps you could suggest something, Sir, or perhaps even write something yourself. I know he d really appreciate it if you did, Sir. Y Of course, young Weatherill. I suppose you must be major now, eh, with the others gone to the front and all. Yes, sir Y (as he writes) Do your best and keep the faith.: He sent me a letter you know. I still have it in my study. It was a fine letter. I m sure he ll appreciate your letters too. What are you doing after supper boys? Knitting (gloomily)
page 4 (nudges ichard) Knitting socks for the Belgian refugees Sir, Matron showed us all how to do it. Y Well done boys. Do you best and keep the faith. (he goes out) Willie will like that. (He places it in the envelope). I just want them all to come home. I know, so do I. N4 All over Britain people were waiting. Waiting for good news about the ending of the war. In the Bible, we read about people waiting for Good News and for Jesus to be born. eader 1 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. The light will shine on those living in the land of dark shadows. For a Child will be born for us and a Son will be given to us. He will rule over all the nations. His name will be called Wonderful Teacher, Powerful God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Scene 2: ooking forward to Christmas Mr and Mrs Yonge are eating breakfast Y (reading a newspaper) It says here that the Pope is trying to help make peace on the Western Front Mrs Y I should think so too after all he s a man of peace. Surely they will listen to him? Y Well I don t like to be gloomy but it says here the Pope is trying to bring about a truce during the Christmas Season. It is thought, however, that there is little hope of this succeeding. Mrs Y Oh dear, that s not good news at all. I m sure our Silcoates families will be disappointed and upset. So many of them have sons and brothers serving just now. Y Yes, you re right. It s very upsetting for everyone. This war will spoil Christmas for a lot of people. N5 Mr Yonge was right, but we should remember that the first Christmas also happened at a time when the world was in turmoil. When Mary first got the news she was to have a baby she was quite anxious. eader 2 The angel said to her, Mary, do not be afraid. God has a plan for you. See! You are to become a mother and have a Son. You are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High God.
page 5 N5 Mary wondered how this could happen but the angel explained that it was God s plan. N6 But not everything was going smoothly. The oman Emperor decided that he would interfere and make life even more difficult for the family. They had to go on a long journey and at the end of that journey a surprise awaited them all. eader 3 Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in the country of Galilee to the town of Bethlehem. It was known as the city of David. He went there because he was from the family of David. While they were there in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth to her baby. Her first son was born. She wrapped him in cloth and laid Him in a manger because there was no room anywhere else for them to stay. N6 This was the story that everyone at Silcoates would have been thinking of in December of 1914, the story of the birth of Jesus, just as we are thinking of it today. The soldiers on the Western Front were thinking of the same story. N7 et s listen to some first-hand accounts of the beginning of the Christmas truce as recorded by Soldiers who were there at the time: Scene 3: In the trenches Soldier 1 After the 19th December attack, we were back in the same trenches when Christmas Day came along. It was a terrible winter, everything was covered in snow, everything was white. The devastated landscape looked terrible in its true colours -clay and mud and broken brick- but when it was covered in snow it was beautiful. Then we heard the Germans singing 'Silent night, Holy night', and they put up a notice saying 'Merry Christmas', and so we put one up too. Sing one verse of Silent Night in German here. Soldier 2 While they were singing our boys said, 'et's join in,' so we joined in and when we started singing, they stopped. And when we stopped, they started again. So we were easing the way. Then one German took a chance and jumped up on top of the trench and shouted out, 'Happy Christmas, Tommy!' So of course our boys said, 'If he can do it, we can do it,' and we all jumped up. A sergeant-major shouted 'Get down!' But we said, 'Shut up Sergeant, it's Christmas time!' And we all went forward to the barbed wire. Sing verse 2 of Silent Night in English
page 6 Soldier 3 On Christmas Day one of the Germans came out of the trenches and held his hands up. Our fellows immediately got out of theirs, and we met in the middle, and for the rest of the day we fraternised, exchanging food, cigarettes and souvenirs. The Germans gave us some of their sausages, and we gave them some of our stuff. The Scotsmen started the bagpipes and we had a rare old jollification, which included football in which the Germans took part. The Germans expressed themselves as being tired of the war and wished it was over. Sing last verse of Silent Night N7 Out in the cold weather on a dark night, the Soldiers remembered the first Christmas and how the message about Jesus birth came to the Shepherds. eader 4 The angel of the ord came to some shepherds in a very bright light. They were very much afraid. The angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I have good news for you and for everyone. Today, a baby has been born in Bethlehem. He is Christ the ord. There will be something special for you to see. This is the way you will know Him. You will find the Baby wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger. eader 5: At once many angels from heaven were seen, along with the angel, giving thanks to God. They were saying, God is wonderful. Praise God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to everyone. N8 Just as the shepherds were surprised by the appearance of the Angels, so the Soldiers were surprised by what happened in the trenches. They wrote letters to their families about what happened. Soldier 4 I never thought we would spend Christmas Day the way we did. On Christmas Eve, the Germans were in front of us started singing what appeared to be hymns. We were shouting out for encores - their trenches are only about 150 yards in front of us. They kept the singing up all night. On Christmas Day some of them started to shout across to us to come over for a drink. It started with one or two going over halfway and meeting the Germans between the two lines of trenches. Soldier 5 Then it got that there was a big crowd of Germans and British all standing together shaking hands and wishing each other a merry Christmas. They were giving us cigars and cheroots in exchange for cigarettes, and some of them had bottles of whisky. They seemed to be a decent crowd, those in front of us. They were all fairly well dressed and the majority could speak broken English. Some of them could speak it as well as I can myself. They said they were not going to fire for three days. They kept their word too. Soldier 6
page 7 Eventually, we got orders to come back down into the trench, 'Get back in your trenches, every man!' The order came round by word of mouth down each trench. Some people took no notice. Anyway, the generals behind must have seen it and got a bit suspicious, so they gave orders for a battery of guns behind us to open fire and a machine - gun to open out, and officers to fire their revolvers at the Jerries. That started the war again. Soldier 7 The Germans don t want to fight any more than we do; they are as fed up of this game as we are fit to be. They told us that they would not shoot if we did not, so we have had a holiday for the last two days we were in the trenches I thought peace was proclaimed, but no such luck. N9 There were reports that some soldiers had played football together. This wasn t a proper match, just a simple kick about in no man s land between the trenches. There were many sportsmen in the army including some football players. N10 In 1983, one person who had taken part, called Ernie Williams, was interviewed on the BBC sports programme. Here s what he said: Ernie Williams (footballer) A ball appeared from somewhere and I don t know where it came from but it came from their side. It was a proper football. They made some goals and one fellow went in goal and there was a general kick-about. At least a couple of hundred people took part. I had a go. I was pretty good then. I was just 19. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. There wasn t a referee. You don t need a referee for that sort of game. Scene 4: After Christmas Mr and Mrs Young eating breakfast again, he s reading the newspaper Y It says here that there was a truce over Christmas after all. Not an official one but something unofficial started by the men themselves. Mrs Y Well that s very interested. I wonder how it happened. Y Says here is was spontaneous really. Our men are saying the Germans didn t want to fight. They sang carols and gave them gifts. Mrs Y How did that go down with those in command? Y Well it seems they were none too pleased and they say it must never happen again. Mrs Y Surely we ll not still be fighting the war next Christmas will we? N11 The soldiers in the trenches gave each other small gifts as a sign of peace and friendship. They would have remembered the story of the wise men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
page 8 eader 6 A long way away in a far country, some clever people who studied the stars had noticed that a particularly unusual bright star had appeared. They decided to follow it to find out what it was leading them towards. It is not surprising they got lost at first and went to the wrong place. It was the palace of Herod the king in Jerusalem eader 7 Herod the King had a secret meeting with the men who learned things from stars. He asked them about what time the star had been seen. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and find the young Child. When you find Him, let me know. Then I can go and worship Him also. eader 8 After the king had spoken, they went on their way. The star they had seen in the East went before them. It came and stopped over the place where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they were very happy. They went into the house and found the young Child with Mary, His mother. Then they got down before Him and worshiped Him. They opened their presents and gave Him gifts of gold and fankincense and myrrh. Then God spoke to them in a dream. He told them not to go back to Herod. So they went back to their own country by another road. N12 It would be nearly four years before the war ended and all the soldiers could come home. The following year, in 1915, commanders made sure there would be no truce in the trenches and forbade soldiers from starting one saying they would be executed if they did. N13 Today there is a memorial at the site of the truce and to remember those who took part. The truce was remarkable because it was started by ordinary men who just wanted a bit of peace at Christmas. N14 It was a sign of good news even in the darkest days of the war. This is the good news about Jesus, who we call the light of the world. We remember that this light shines on in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. Chaplain/minister And we pray for peace in our world today. All around the world children and families, adults and older people in different places face difficulties at Christmas, particularly those affected by war. We think of them at this time and we pray together (Prayer) Acknowledgements This script is adapted by Janet ees from material provided by The Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin uther King Peace Committee for use in Junior Schools. It is provided free to churches, school and projects in the Yorkshire Synod. If you use this material you should acknowledge this copyright on any printed version. HOW TO FEEDBACK ABOUT THE ESOUCES If you wish to offer any feedback you are welcome to email Janet ees: janetlees@silcoates.org.uk