Voices of Armed Forces Children project Competition Winner!

In January 2021, whilst the UK was in lockdown, Never Such Innocence (NSI) organised a digital poetry workshop for service children based at Wellington Barracks in London. This was part of the charity’s Voices of Armed Forces Children project, supported by the Armed Forces Covenant. The session was led by NSI Poet in Residence & veteran Clive Sanders, who talked about the impact his own deployments had made on his family. During the workshop the young people were encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings on service life, whilst developing their creative talents in a safe and respectful environment. Tyler (11) and his sister Evie (9), wrote two powerful poems titled, A Military Child and The Other Side of a Soldier. The two pieces are deeply personal, eloquent and honest. They brilliantly capture the complexities of life as a service child.

In April 2021, Tyler was awarded first place in his age group in NSI’s international competition, being recognised out of 500 other poetry entries. In May, Tyler attended his very own awards ceremony with his family in the Office of the Major-General, located in Horse Guards. Tyler and Evie both read their poems and were awarded their certficiates by Major General C J Ghika CBE. The NSI Voices of Armed Forces Children project is invaluable to the Armed Forces community, supporting not only service members, but their spouses, children and extended family. The reach of the project stretches into schools and classrooms, giving service and civilian children the opportunity to learn about one another and grow in empathy. The mental and emotional well-being of service families is imperative to an effective Armed Forces and NSI provides an additional level of support to strengthen the Armed Forces family.

After reading what the children had created, Lieutenant General Sir Tyrone Urch KBE commented: “Young people are at the heart of the British Army family and therefore what they say really matters. I am enormously moved by the amazing poems from our young people and awestruck at how beautifully they describe their thoughts on Service life and also the pride they show being an Army child. It takes a lot of courage to share what you are thinking and how you are feeling; they should all feel very enormously proud to have created such powerful, important and honest pieces.”

To read Tyler’s winning poem, please view page 9 of our 2020/2021 Winners Booklet.