A GROUP of local actors will commemorate the start of the First World War this weekend with a series of performances in village churches around the region.

Broad Hinton Amateur Dramatic Society is staging the memorial show, entitled Voices From The Great War, in Broad Hinton, Winterbourne Bassett, West Overton and Winterbourne Monkton between Wednesday and Saturday.

The performance, in poetry, prose and music, has been put together by Broad Hinton resident John Hutchings and focuses on a variety of aspects of wartime life. John’s grandfather, Rev Sylvester Lee, was a Methodist minister who took off his dog collar to serve as a private soldier in the war. He was commissioned and finished his service in 1919, fighting the Bolsheviks along the line of the Trans-Siberian Railway after the Russian Revolution.

John has spent many months researching and compiling the various aspects of the show.

He said: “This is a remembrance with a real difference. We’ve crammed in work from eight of the 16 Great War poets commemorated in Westminster Abbey and some familiar songs. “But alongside are lighter moments, like an account of wartime life in a Calais brothel and the scandal caused by Bavarian ladies taking to knickerbockers. I guarantee that, in the performance and in the programme, you’ll learn something new about the Great War.”

Performances take place in Broad Hinton church on tonight; in Winterbourne Bassett church tomorrow; in Winterbourne Monkton church on Friday; and in West Overton church on Saturday. Performances start at 7.30 pm, with tickets costing £5.