PRIMARY school children from the Vale got a taste of wartime life when St Richard Gwyn RC secondary pupils provided a peacetime insight on Friday, May 15.

The Year 7 youngsters staged a special assembly where they and head teacher Steve Grech portrayed what life during the First World War was like for serving soldiers and their loved ones back home.

Children from St Helen's RC Junior, Wenvoe, St Joseph's and St Andrew's Primary were treated to poetry, an accounts of Vale soldier Private Jones, who never returned home, drama, prayer and a choral performance of Oh What A Lovely War as part of the ceremony to unveil St Richard Gwyn’s peace garden.

The garden has been funded by the Welsh Government as part of the Wales Remembering 1914 to 1918 project together with an additional contribution from the school.

St Richard Gwyn RC head teacher Steve Grech said the garden aimed to remember those who lived through war and those who fought for peace.

The youngsters constructed paper peace cranes, painted peace stones and placed them and poppies at the peace garden in the school grounds.

Children also had the opportunity to talk to members of the Barry branch of the Royal British Legion, work with the history department to discover the link between the Vale’s current streets and the addresses of those who gave their lives in the First World War.

They also took to the stage with the Year 9 drama group to try and visualise the the effects of war on those who stayed home.