Scoping WW1 Features

A day of sleuthing and scoping to find untold stories to illustrate domestic experiences of World War 1.  The "No Manifestation of Feeling" notice is a stark reminder of the impersonal treatment of conscientious objectors in the Great War.

SYNOPSIS: A SERIES THAT BRINGS TO LIFE THE HIDDEN STORIES OF WORLD WAR ONE BY VISITING THE REAL PEOPLE, BUSINESSES, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, AND NEIGHBOURHOODS OF YORK CITIZENS 

FORMAT: ILLUSTRATED DOCUMENTARY FEATURES USING READINGS FROM LETTERS, DIARIES, NEWSPAPERS, WAR RECORDS, HOSPITAL AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE FACILITY RECORDS, ORAL HISTORY FRAGMENTS

STRUCTURE: 5 x 6 MINUTE FEATURES TO PLAY OUT FOR FIVE DAYS OF THE WEEK USING A MEMBER OF THE BBC RADIO YORK STAFF AS PRESENTER/NARRATOR 

STORIES: CONTRASTING FEATURES OVER THE WEEK WILL TELL DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF HOW THE WAR WAS EXPERIENCED IN  YORK, PAYING ATTENTION TO THE OFTEN NOW FORGOTTEN STORIES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WORK AND PLAY, IMPRISONMENT AND CASUALTIES:

for example,listen to ‘To Fight Or Not To Fight’ on audioBoom

> "To Fight Or Not To Fight"

In 1916 York was a centre for conscientious objector activists, Quakers at Bootham School and the Rowntree factories.  Aflred Martlew was put on a trial in the Guildhall and subsequently pressganged to the front line in France where he was tied to a barbed wire fence, but still refused to fight.  This story is told through Hansard, Newspaper Accounts, and Letters to the MP Arnold Rowntree.  The drama pivots on the relationship between Alfred and his fiancée,  Annie, and a body found drowned in the Ouse:

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To Fight Or Not To Fight