Goodnight My Boys

2016

In 2014, Wolverhampton’s Central Youth Theatre received funding from the Heritage Lottery’s First World War Fund to create a short documentary film called After Dawn. The film was based on research into the true stories of West Midlands soldiers who were shot at Dawn for offences such as desertion or perceived cowardice, script-writer, Laura Sambrooks, developed a fictional screenplay about the impact of one soldier’s execution on his family.

The positive reception After Dawn received encouraged the youth theatre to make a follow on film.

Goodnight My Boys is not a sequel to After Dawn, it is a unique story of the tenacity and spirit of a number of committed individuals who campaigned long and hard to see wrongs righted.

The film documents the 25-year campaign to secure a pardon for 306 soldiers executed for desertion and perceived cowardice. The campaign ultimately allowed the soldiers to be given the recognition they deserved for their contribution to WW1 and it culminated in the opening of the Shot at Dawn memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in 2001.

In particular, Goodnight My Boys follows the efforts of John Hipkin, who, at the tender age of 14, was emotionally scarred for life by the sights he witnessed as the UK’s youngest prisoner of war in WW2.

Project Research

Young people participated in oral history workshops, and learnt the necessary skills required to undertake oral history interviews. They researched the story of the Shot at Dawn Campaign and created a timeline of key milestones throughout the campaign. The young people also created character profiles of the key figures who were involved in the campaign, including John Hipkin and his family, The Farr Family, Julian Putowski, former MP Andrew McKinley and a number of the WW1 soldiers who were shot at dawn, including Harry Farr. They also researched the impact that Harry Farr’s execution had on the family and their subsequent involvement in the campaign.

Young people were in contact with John Hipkin’s Family, who helped supply information about the campaign, including court martial records, photographic and filmed documents about John Hipkin’s life throughout the campaign, including his experience of being the UK’s youngest POW during WW2. Sadly, John Hipkin passed away two weeks prior to us filming the short drama film. The family invited us to John’s funeral, and we were very privileged to be present at the National Memorial Arboretum when a bench was dedicated to John’s life, work and memory at the SAD memorial. Andy Decomyn the sculptor was present as well as John’s family. The two lead actors who played John and Wynne Hipkin were present at the unveiling of the bench.

Throughout the research phase of the project, the young people also spoke to Peter Barton, an historian and filmmaker, who produced a BBC documentary about John’s involvement in the campaign. The young people also conducted costume and set design research from this documentary in order to help build an accurate representation of John and Wynne Hipkin who were played in the film by two of our young people. They worked closely with a professional costume and set designer to recreate these. We were also in contact with Lois Bibbings, a historian who had focused her PHD on the Shot at Dawn Campaign. She also informed the young people’s research through interactive sessions.

Young people also researched the film locations in order to best represent specific sites shown in the film, in order that the imagery was as accurate to John’s descriptions as possible. We used the documentary that Peter Barton made to inform our filming location of the POW camp that John was held at. We filmed this section of the film at RAF Cosford, around a series of WW2 huts that had remained at the base since the war.

Audience Feedback:

We were very honoured to receive this positive feedback from John’s Family after the Goodnight My Boys Screenings:

“As John’s younger son, this is difficult to put into words but what an awesome experience to see the fruits of your hard work this day. My dad would have been so proud. A huge thank you. The film about Dad was simply stunning. I truly believe that you have captured the essence of my Dad’s spirit and the passion with which he fought his pardons campaign. It was our honour and privilege to attend on Friday so a very, very great thank you to you and the wonderful cast members and back stage people who made the film possible.

As a secondary school teacher my Dad loved working with young people and I know for a fact that he would have been thrilled by the performances we witnessed on Friday both in the film and the monologues. As a family we will be following CYT in the future so please keep in touch, we would be delighted to purchase some DVD’s and help to keep CYT running. Please give my best wishes to all at CYT and of course a very special thank you to you for writing such a wonderful and moving script and screenplay.”

Dominic Hipkin. – John’s Son.

“I will email you properly with feedback for the film but just wanted to send you a quick note to say both Dougie and I have been blown away by the talent of your theatre group today. Both films were excellent with exceptional standards of acting and attention to detail. Tonight’s performance at Sundown on the Somme was the highlight of the event – unbelievably good. Please pass on my congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for a day I will never forget.”

Trish Burgess – John’s Niece

“Thank you so much for sending the DVD by the Central Youth Theatre of John Hipkins story and fight for pardons for the executed soldiers. The DVD arrived this lunch-time and myself and husband sat and watched the film this afternoon.

We were delighted to see that the script was accurate in all details. We thought the actors were amazing and portrayed the characters brilliantly.

Well done and Congratulations to all concerned.

We enjoyed watching film, although very sad for me in places!

With thanks and best wishes.”

Janet Booth – Harry Farr’s Grand Daughter

New work created through the project:

We created a 20-minute drama film that told the true story of the campaign to pardon the 306 executed soldiers. This was screened at The Lighthouse Media Centre in Wolverhampton in December 2016 to an audience of 280 people and at the National Memorial Arboretum as part of their Sundown on the Somme event in November 2016. We also created a performance piece which was performed by members of our over 18 ForeFront group at the NMA as part of the same event, which was staged to an audience of over 700 people. This performance piece was created using research of WW1 soldier’s experiences of the Battle of the Somme. The research consisted of oral histories, poetry and letters as collected and collated by the young people. The film has since been produced onto DVD’s and are available to the general public. Copies have also been distributed to the families, organisations and individuals who helped collate the research material.

Project Outcomes

As a result of our project, we engaged 28 of our young members in the research, creation, performance, editing and producing of a short drama film that depicted the story of the shot at Dawn Campaign to pardon the 306 WW1 executed soldiers.

Through this project we achieved our outcome of ensuring more people understand: