‘Hayton Remembers… 1918’ on 15th September at 7.30pm in St Peter’s Church, Hayton will remember the terrible years of the First World War and the celebration of the Armistice. Most families had suffered and lost loved ones but felt that it was all worthwhile as it had been “The war to end all wars”. Sadly, that was not to be. Since the Armistice the world has been permanently at war.
However, as well as the Armistice, 1918 was a victory for the ladies who fought so hard to obtain Votes for Women and the RAF was born. So, in the production on stage there will be music, readings from letters and diaries and photographs telling of the way the war affected people at home in the towns and villages as well as following the progress of the war from 1916 to 1918. In 2014 Hayton had a similar production which marked the start of the war to the end of 1916.
‘Celebrate 1918’ on 23rd July was a beautiful sunny day. The Playing Field had been transformed into a 1918 Garden Party with a beautiful marquee, photo booth, stalls, local history displays, dancers and music from a trio and also bagpipes.
Traditional games such as Tug-of-War and cricket were enthusiastically played by youngsters and their parents. ‘Bowling for the pig’ proved popular and the Afternoon Tea Tent looked pretty and had background music played by a folk group — as a steady stream of visitors relaxed and enjoyed their Tea. It was fun to see that all involved wore 1918 costume and everyone sported a hat as people would have at the time. The judging of the decorated hats was won by a lady wearing a hat which sported the colours of the Suffragette movement. A lovely village event.