This week, my group decided to divide our key topics for our performance and each choose one to research. I chose to further my research into Amy Beechey, the mother who lost 5 sons, during the space of just 3 years, to The Great War. During the War it was very unusual to loose this amount of children, and this is why Amy Beechey’s story is so tragic. I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt, but I would like to highlight the bravery of the Beechey Boys in our piece and give the audience an insight of the what it might have been like for them when they had to sacrifice their lives on the front line.

I feel this story should be shared, as it has a huge part to play in the history of Lincoln. My first stop was to visit the house of where the Beechey Boys once lived –  14, Avondale Street, Lincoln. I wanted to stand outside the house that Barnard, Charles, Frank, Harold, Leonard and Christopher would have once called home. It was heart breaking to stand outside of the house they grew up in, on the same street they’d have played on and realise these boys would have once walked out of the front door, to never return home.

Whilst researching, I have came across a book called ‘Brothers In War’ by Michael Walsh, which might be useful to read to really gain a better understanding of our topic, to ensure we can really make an impact on our audience when performing.

I am delighted that Joey Warren, niece of the Beechey boys chose to donate their letters to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, and feel very privileged to have the chance to be able to view them. An idea my group could look into could be to make our own letters, using the words of the Beechey Boys and let the    audience read them as we take them on our journey. At the same time, we could record the words written in the letters and have them play as an audio, and use this BBC video for inspiration.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lincolnshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9129000/9129086.stm

Hannah Taylor