Children document town's World War Two memories

Students from Melksham Oak were invited to contribute a chapter to the book

The everyday lives of people in Melksham during World War Two have been commemorated in a book with the help of school children.

Melksham's War is a diary of life in the Wiltshire town between 1939 and 1945, researched and developed by the local history group Melksham Remembers.

Students from Melksham Oak Community School contributed a chapter and the book also includes artwork and letters from primary school children.

"It allowed me to talk about my relationship with World War Two because my great granddad, he's still alive and so I wrote about what he's told me about the war," said 15-year-old Grace Winter.

Students were rewarded with bursaries after their contributions to Melksham's War

"We are delighted that our students have been able to play a role in bringing (the book) to life," said Haris Hussain, principal of Melksham Oak.

The project is part of an ongoing relationship between the school and the history group.

Another student involved in the project, Zuzanna Medrek, 15, said: "My parents always wanted to keep me educated about the war, as we come from Poland.

"I found it a really interesting topic to write about, especially the struggles of people who had no voice at the time.

"I thought it would be a nice way to express it through poetry."

Michael Maguire, head of humanities said: "It's been a fantastic way to actually open the students' eyes to the history of Melksham and the wider community and the fact that they've contributed to a book that, for posterity purposes, will have a legacy now."

'Valued for generations'

In 2018 Melksham Remembers curated a one-off exhibition to mark 100 years since the end of World War One and subsequently produced a book, with the school children involved in recording an audio version.

Ray Heard, from the history group, said: "Melksham's War is a wonderful record of our local community’s strength, determination and solidarity through the most challenging of times.

"There were some surprises, particularly the changes in Melksham to society, education, agriculture and engineering that came about because of the war.

"It’s something we can all be proud of," he added.

Representatives from the Royal British Legion joined a celebration event for the book's launch

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