Beyond The War Memorials

As an illustrator my brief for the ‘Beyond the War Memorials’ project was to generate artwork with groups of local school children, and design ‘The Last Post’ presentation pack. The pack was sent to the last known addresses of the Service men and women listed on Sefton’s civic war memorials, sharing their stories with the current occupiers at those addresses.

During four busy and very productive drawing workshops the children produced upwards of 800 amazing drawings inspired by the symbolic details on the regions war memorials, which also gave them a broader understanding of memorial and remembrance.

One drawing or sketch from every single child who took part is included in the final design of ‘The Last Post’ presentation pack, either on the postcard, folder or letters.

It’s been a real privilege to play a part in this thought provoking project, the idea of learning about a person who lived in my house, who left for war 100 years ago and didn’t return, had a profound impact on myself and captured the imagination of the children I worked with to produce the artwork.

From the moment the brief arrived for the ‘Beyond the War Memorials’ project we were intrigued. Upon visiting Bootle’s War Memorial first to get a feel for the task ahead it soon became clear that this project was going to take us through lots of different emotions.

We created a logo to mark the centenary of the end of The Great War, photographed all 11 memorials and designed and built a website to accommodate the names and details of around 4000 fallen Service men and women.

It has been a great privilege to be part of such a worthwhile project and it will leave a lasting memory on us, working with Sefton Libraries and the team they handpicked to work on the project has been a wonderful experience.