One hundreds ago Britain was in the midst of the horrific World War One and it is being remembered in a little bit of a different way at Powis Castle this summer.
The Castle’s First World War training camp will let you discover if you have what it took to “do your bit” as a Scout during the war.
Scouts came forward in huge numbers to help the British war effort by taking on many different roles, helping release men from their jobs so they could sign up to serve in the military forces.
Throughout the summer holidays, you can test your skills by competing with one another on the assault course, sending messages using semaphore flags, dressing-up in traditional soldier uniforms and practicing basic first aid skills – all within a traditional training camp setting on the Great Lawn.
Emma Thompson, Powis General Manager said: “Until November this year, visitors can visit the cellars at Powis which have been turned into a recreation of a Somme trench to commemorate the centenary of the death of Percy Herbert, son of 4th Earl of Powis.
“We’ve also got plenty of activities running throughout the summer holidays to encourage families to have fun whilst also learning more about life in Britain during the war.
“On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays there will also be Soyer stove cooking demonstrations on the Great Lawn. Just like Florence Nightingale improved nursing in the Army’s hospitals, Alexis Soyer improved food quality on the front lines. His Soyer stove invention ensured the army could feed 50 men at a time and this clever piece of kit is still used in modern war zones today.
The Powis Training Camp will run daily throughout the summer holidays. The camp will be the ‘final push’ of events to mark the historic castle’s successful First World War story which will come to an end on November 5.
The horror experienced by local soldiers who were battling for their lives and their country through mud-strewn trenches has been brought to life at Powis Castle, with heartfelt diary entries and letters from Lady Violet, 4th Countess of Powis, about her son’s life during the war.
Percy – the eldest son of 4th Earl and Countess of Powis –died aged just 23 in the Battle of the Somme.
He was involved in heavy fighting in the second battle of Ypres and later in the Somme offensive in 1916 at Flers-Courcelette, where he was seriously injured. He was brought back to London for treatment but later died as a result of infection.
This was the first of a sequence of family tragedies that led to the castle passing into the care of the National Trust in 1952.