Last updated at 22:17, Saturday, 22 November 2008

THE part Whitehaven soldiers played in the Christmas Truce of 1914 will be recalled in a concert at Rosehill Theatre.

NO MAN’S LAND: The day the fighting stopped during the Christmas Truce of 1914

It was on Christmas Day 1914 that an unofficial truce broke out among Allied and German soldiers on the Western Front.

Soldiers, who for months beforehand, had been at war, climbed out of their trenches, crossed No Man’s Land and shook hands.

Two Whitehaven researchers are co-ordinating a national project - called Operation Plum Puddings - transcribing letters written by soldiers – including those of Whitehaven soldiers.

Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park, of Church Road, Whitehaven, decided to combine extracts from the letters with carols sung during the event to create an unusual Chistmas concert.

Alan said: “ The songs include such favourites as O Come All Ye Faithful, The First Nowell, Home Sweet Home and See Amid The Winter Snow. But there are also some little-known but lovely French and German carols.”

The concert, sung by West Cumberland Choral Society under the directorship of Dorothy Edger, also includes Silent Night sung in German.

Alan said: “Stille Nacht (Silent Night) was not very well known in England in 1914 but the beauty of this carol when sung by German soldiers worked its magic on war-weary troops and encouraged the onset of the truce. Even today it seems to acquire an extra mystique when sung in German.”

The concert will take place at Rosehill Theatre, at 7.30pm on Thursday, December 11. Tickets are £6 (£5 concessions) from 01946 692422.

To find out more about the Christmas Truce visit www.christmastruce.co.uk

Included in the concert will be this letter from a Whitehaven soldier, first printed in The Whitehaven News on February 18, 1915: Private Dixon, 9100, D Company. Head Quarters Staff, 2nd Border Regiment British Expeditionary Force, writes us: “At Christmas we got quite friendly with the Germans. There was no firing on both sides for about 10 days, and we used to go over the trenches and talk to them and exchange souvenirs, but every one we spoke to that could speak English said they wished it was over. I was surprised when one told me he had a wife in Piccadilly and another said he drove a taxi at Fulham. We’ve started scrapping again; and I can tell you it is not very nice in the trenches up to the knees in water.

“We are all quite cheerful and confident of success so we just say the old saying “What odds, so long as we’re happy?” Well I must draw to a close, and wishing your paper every success - We remain, “A few marrows fra Whitehaven.”

First published at 15:40, Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk