Touching upon the personal story of a local band of world war one volunteers this film documents the Westgate Community Trust Remembrance event as well as exploring the concept of remembrance.

With coverage of the event as well as interviews from historians, MP’s and local people, this film looks at the nature of remembrance and what meaning it has for people today.

AF Film was originally commissioned to cover the Westgate Hall’s two day remembrance event. However the project became a lot more when we saw two striking images in the foyer.

These images led us to speak to Craig Bowen at the Heritage Museum in Canterbury. He was able to show us that they were part of an album of 69 photos of the Kent Volunteer Reserve from World War 1. These men were a volunteer band, the first incarnations of Dad’s Army.

We spoke to Mark Connelly at the University of Kent and scoured historical archives and military records to discover the lives of some of the men serving here.

Throughout we spoke to some very insightful people, members of the public, MP’s and historians who showed through their emotion the tragedy of this war and the unnecessary suffering it entailed. Listening to these heartfelt accounts we wanted to learn what meaning remembrance had in society today and this became the conclusion of our film.

If you haven’t seen it yet we’d love it if you could take some time to watch it.