Make Doves Not War! WoW Festival Launch

Writing on the Wall's festival launch event was a huge success on Thursday 1st May at The Bluecoat. Seventy children from five schools across Merseyside as well as various councillors and special guests took part in our 'Make Doves Not War' event to explore the theme of peace in the centenary year of the First World War. The schools arrived and Festival Director Madeline Heneghan introduced talks and readings by children's authors Cathy Cassidy and Jon Mayhew, and poet Sean Street, who all reflected on the themes of conflict both during wartime and in everyday life, and talked about their own families involvement in the First World War.

The children were given cut-outs of doves on white card and asked to write something in response to the phrase 'I want to live in a world of peace because...' The children decorated their doves and our WoW volunteers helped to thread them all together onto a white ribbon. The The event moved to the gardens of The Bluecoat where the children formed a semi-circle holding their connected doves and listened to talks from Councillor for Education Jane Corbett and Liverpool's Lord Mayor Gary Miller, before the Lord Mayor and the Young Lord Mayor released ten doves into the sky as a statement of peace to close the event and launch the festival.

The 'Make Doves Not War' writing competition has now launched and is an exciting opportunity for a young writer aged 8-16 to have a piece of flash fiction or poetry published. The competition aims to promote peace through creativity during the centenary year of the First World War and is a way to get people thinking about the tremendous losses on both sides of the conflict. Closing date for the competition is Friday 24th October 2014. Get in touch with us at info@writingonthewall.org.uk for more information.


By Alex Price