About Never Such Innocence

The charity began as a First World War commemoration project for children and young people. Inspired by this conflict, more than 11,000 young people from 47 different countries, territories and dependencies created poetry, artwork, and songs. From 2019 we expanded our focus to include conflict in all forms and throughout history, up to and including the present day. To date, young people in over 125 countries have participated in our work. Our work is delivered in three key ways: Workshops, Special Events and an International Competition - through 2 core programmes: Conversations on Conflict and Voices of Armed Forces Children.

We take our name from Philip Larkin’s famous poem MCMXIV, which reflects on the changes caused by the First World War. The driving force behind Never Such Innocence is Lady Lucy French OBE, great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Sir John French who commanded the British Expeditionary Forces from 1914-15.

Workshops

Our freelance creative professionals visit schools to hold workshops in poetry, art, speech and songwriting. Our practitioners give young people the tools they need to create powerful pieces of work on the theme of conflict.

Creative art activities are an exciting endeavour which can reinforce and stimulate children to express themselves freely through music and writing. We find that using creative arts enables pupils to express thoughts and feelings about conflict in a new way, to engage creatively with a challenging topic, and create something they can all feel truly proud of.

Special Events

We provide unique opportunities for children to participate in very special, highly memorable occasions to provide a platform for them to share their reflections on war and conflict.

Our Roadshows visit prestigious venues to ensure that our young people are aware that their voices matter, and experience a day they will remember for years to come. We enable students from schools far and wide to get involved in our activities, and give young people a platform to share their extraordinary work for an audience of their peers, local dignitaries, members of the Armed Forces, and VIPs. A special group of service children even performed on Britain’s Got Talent as part of our Voices of Armed Forces Children Programme.

International Competition

Our annual international cross-curricular competition enables young people to have their say on conflict through the creative arts. The competition is completely free to enter and is open to young people aged 9-18 from any country in the world. They are invited to create a poem, artwork, or speech reflecting on something they feel strongly about historically or currently, on an international scale, or within their local community or wider society.

Every entrant to our international competition receives a special personalised Certificate of Commendation. All winning entries are published in a special Winners Booklet, which can be found on our Past Competitions page.

A Lasting Centenary Legacy

During the First World War centenary we successfully engaged with children from the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, and indeed across the world. With nearly 11,000 entries from 47 countries, territories and dependencies across five continents, young people have come together to mark the centenary. These children have produced wonderful, profoundly moving work – all winning work has been published in our anthology book, Never Such Innocence: Children’s Responses through Poetry, Art and Song.   The winning songs have also been released on an album, the Songs of the Centenary - available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Trackd.