Southend Schools Festival of Remembrance was a project set up to engage 5000 young people with the WW1 legacy of those that lived during the time of the conflict.  It was supported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and The Royal British Legion. Local historians from the Leigh Society, the U3A and the Essex Society for Family History were an integral part of the team, sharing and gathering WW1 archive and insight. 
 
Students from 25 local schools took part in the Poppy Waterfall Exhibition on Southend Seafront, each making a unique poppy to display together.  They also explored what remembrance meant a hundred years ago and what it means now to young people. 
 
As well as learning about the local men and women who survived WW1 from our history experts the children were involved in a giant outdoor display of their art, inspired by the arrival of the Wave in Shoeburyness. 

 
Our 4 Ambassador Schools worked with us, each devising their own performance around the research project, that took place with support from a playwright and our team. 
 
Finally, with the guidance of local organisations and the CWGC we created a digital trail and education pack that will allow local organisations and schools will be able to easily reproduce this project in the future. 
 
SSFR was been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Leigh Town Council and Southend Borough Council. 
 
The SSFR website can be found at www.ssfr.org.uk