BATTLE OF MAMETZ WW1
As a class, we REALLY REALLY REALLY recommend that you try to visit Shantytown and do this activity. This is our second year of doing ANZAC there and we can't wait to see what next years programme is. The teachers there work with our teachers to make what we do tie in with what we are studying. We have learnt heaps more about ANZAC this year from using a lot of resources from 'School Kit' and then visiting Shantytown to really live the lifestyle.
As part of our ANZAC study and followup from using the 'School Kit,' we have been doing drama and we went to Shantytown to re-enact the battle of Mametz which is part of the Battle of Somme. The boys had to dress in a military fashion and the girls got changed when we arrived
We all had different roles but we got to swap over. When we first arrived at Shantytown we went to the school where we watched a poem https://youtu.be/Nj43X-VBEPE it is amazing. Then we practised listening to and solving morse code messages. We then marched in our units to Mametz and sang 'Its a Long Way to Tipperary' and 'Pack up your troubles ' as we marched.
When we reached Marmetz (in the middle of a field at Shantytown) we all went to our place. Some of the girls were in the hospital section and the hospital tent.
Others were running the supplies tent and cooking Billy Tea (made with Condensed Milk), feeding the wounded Tack Biscuits with it. Last year when we visited Shantytown we studied 'The Home Front' and made care packages. This unit delivered the care packages to the wounded in the trenches. (they contained mints, a comb, writing paper and pencil, tissues that could be used for the nose or the latrine and a letter from home.
When we were in the trenches after we received our parcel from home we had to write a letter home.
One of the men who work at Shantytown made replica rifles for us to use. The staff there had also dug a trench for us. When it was our turn in the trenches we had to keep digging to make the trench longer and fill sandbags to make it higher. Some of us got 'Trench Foot' and had to be carried to the hospital and some of us put out heads to high and got shot by the enemy. (our teacher with a water pistol).
We had turns at playing different roles during the day. There was a sentry at the gate and we had to have a password to enter the battlefield, the password changed many times during the day. It was an AMAZING day and its hard to its amazing to think how hard it would have been to survive in the trenches in the war. For us, one day was amazing and really uncomfortable being wet and crouched. For the girls dealing with the wounded (we made fake wounds from PVA and tissues) bandages wasn't easy either. In the real battle of WW1 the pain and noise, uncomfortableness and sadness must have been really really terrible. During the days different people were given different and secret scenarios to act out and others didn't know they were going to happen so it was really impromptu acting and thinking on your feet to make them seem real. The girls who were nurses had to diagnose what was wrong with the wounded and if the person was acting out a certain role they really had to be creative to find out what the problem was.
