Cast recreate local history as they prepare for WW1 play

Members of the public on Cannock Chase on Sunday afternoon were lucky enough to see a slice of living history as uniformed WW1 soldiers were taken through their drills. Cast from the Lichfield Players’ forthcoming production of ‘The Accrington Pals’ costumed up and were drilled outside the Marquis Drive site’s Great War Camps Interpretation Centre by Military Historian Edwin Field, to replicate what the real Accrington Pals would have done on Cannock Chase 100 years ago this May.

The Accrington Pals were a volunteer East Lancashire battalion made up of groups of friends from Accrington and its neighbouring towns. Possibly the best remembered of the volunteer battalions raised in the early months of the Great War, the Pals were billeted at Brockton Camp from May to July 1915 in huts similar to the reconstructed WW1 barracks accommodation located opposite the Marquis Drive Visitor Centre.

“It’s haunting to think we are where the real Accrington Pals would have been involved in mock battles and military exercises, ultimately in preparation for going to fight in France,” said James Bentley who plays Ralph in Peter Whelan’s play. “We’re here in the damp, similar to the Accrington Pals’ first experience of the Chase. The battalion marched three miles from Rugeley station to arrive in the cold and pouring rain, and then after the rain stopped, conditions didn’t get any better as the troops were inflicted with smoke and dust from the surrounding moors setting alight.”

The Accrington Pals were one of the initial battalions to be housed in camps set up on land offered by Lord Lichfield to accommodate the huge numbers of new recruits enlisting. By the end of WW1, Rugeley Camp and Brocton Camp had their own infrastructure, and could cumulatively house approximately 40,000 men and over 11,000 horses.

“Being here in uniform where the Accrington Pals were makes me even more conscious of the parallels with my own family history,” said Richard Bannister-Lowe who plays young Pals recruit Tom on stage.  “My great great uncle suffered a similar fate to that of so many of the Accrington Pals,” said Richard. “Of some 720 Pals, 584 were reported as killed, missing or wounded on 1st July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme. My great great uncle died on 17th September at the Battle of the Somme fighting as part of the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. He is remembered alongside the Accrington Pals whose bodies were also never found, at the Thiepval Memorial at the Somme battlefields. The fact I’ll be the same age as he was on the 100th anniversary of his death – 35 years old – is quite chilling.”

The Lichfield Players’ production of Peter Whelan’s play about the Accrington Pals and the changes faced by the women they left behind opens at the Lichfield Garrick on Tuesday 24th March for a 5 night run. Tickets are £12 (concessions £11 & £9). To book call the Garrick Box Office on 01543 412121 or visit www.lichfieldgarrick.com