11.30am – 6.00pm in Victoria and Chamberlain Squares there will be a full day’s entertainment programme: The event will open with Charlie Chaplin silent movies on the Big Screen in Victoria Square with the stage programme from 12pm – 6pm.  The Military Community Choir will be performing, plus the Alan Warner Band and Music Hall Show with Maggie O’Hara.  Birmingham’s Young Poet Laureate Lauren Williams and Birmingham’s Poet Laureate Joanna Skelt have both written specially commissioned poems for the event and will perform them from the main stage.  The Band of the West Midlands Fire Service will also be performing music popular in 1914.

There will be talks in the Council House by the Western Front Association for those who wish to learn more about the First World War and its links with Birmingham.

As well as the stage programme there will be representatives of the Armed Forces at the event, with weapon displays by the 1^st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and a field hospital display by the 202 Field Hospital comparing modern day army resources with those of 1914.  Suffragettes, Home Front Life and a 1914 Army Recruitment Post will be part of the  Living history displays, plus a craft workshop, Travelling Military Museum and Shared Histories display and Charlie Chaplin Walkabout character.  The Gold Medal winning Chelsea Flower Show display will also be open to the public.

For more information contact 0121 303 3008