Bishop Bell School in Eastbourne is beginning an exciting new First World War project about The Royal Sussex Regiment in the Battle of Boars Head thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £9,200 for Eastbourne PALS. The Battle of Boars Head took place on 30 June 1916 and is also known as “the Day Sussex Died” due to the numbers of men from the county who lost their life during that one day of battle.
Working in partnership with Sound Architect Creative Media, Eastbourne PALS gave a class of year 8 students from the school in Langney, Eastbourne, a masterclass on the history of the battle.
Chris Richards from PALS, led the session during which the students could examine artefacts from the War including weapons. He said: “It’s very important to keep this history alive, even though no doubt 100 years seems like a long time ago to the students. The Battle of Boars Head was hugely significant to Sussex, especially the Eastbourne area.”
History teacher Jenny Clifton said: “In this current age it’s hard for the students to really understand how it was to live through war. This is an exciting opportunity for them to research something crucial to the area, and start tracing the descendants of the men in that battle. Maybe they will find a great grandfather or great uncle who was actually there.”
Find out more about The Day that Sussex Died project at a community day on Saturday 16th April at the Redoubt Fortress & Military Museum, Eastbourne.
Project co-ordinators are keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer to help research into this crucial aspect of our past, and would love to hear from anyone who had relatives in the Royal Sussex Regiment. If you have photographs or letters or anything passed down through the generations of your family, please contact the Project Manager: Susanne Crosby, through the website: www.soundarchitect.org.uk or on 07592 021590.
