Everybody knows that the Great War ended in November 1918. We are taught this in school, and it is a well-known fact. So I was as surprised as the students of Havant Sixth Form College were, when they found a soldier on the town’s war memorial, who had died in May 1920, when they were researching it for an extra-curricular humanities project.
The soldier, Major Sir Frederick Fitzwygram was a member of the Fitzwygram family, who sold the land on which Leigh Park is built to Portsmouth City Council, and is included on the memorial because he was still a serving soldier when he died before the official end of WWI on 31 August 1921. So the guns did indeed fall silent in November 1918 in response to the Armistice; however it took a further three years for the official end of the war.
The film itself follows three names from the memorial; Major Fitzwygram, Archibald Paxton and Ernest Deadman, because all three had female relatives who worked in Langstone Towers hospital, and the students felt that this was an interesting coincidence.
The background behind the film is also of interest. Students were discussing a news story with Steve Murray, Curriculum Director of the Arts, at Havant College, which reported that a developer wished to move the memorial as part of a proposed improvement to the town centre. Many of them mentioned that they had never particularly noticed the monument, despite it being opposite a favoured coffee shop, and so the decision was made to research some of the names, and make a film.
They managed to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and commissioned Daniel Mustey of Emsworth based Millstream Productions to produce the project, and the resulting film is quite simply remarkable. The production values are of the highest quality, and the presenter, student Holly Patrick is a natural in front of the camera. She brings a warmth and empathy, that is entirely unforced without being condescending, and I predict that this is not the last time we will hear of her.
not the last time we will hear of her. The film is well researched, and the viewer is completely immersed in the various threads of the story, and it comes to a neat conclusion and crucially leaves you wanting more. It can be viewed at www.havantsheroes.co.uk and I highly recommend that you take thirty minutes to watch it.