She’s not even in secondary school yet, but 11-year-old Robyn McCluskey already knows how to stop the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“If I was Prime Minister I would tell everyone to stop fighting and bring back all the soldiers. I would keep them out of war and settle things in a conference room, not with violence,” she said.
Robyn is the joint winner of a Remembrance Day poetry competition designed to educate young people about the plight of veterans suffering from the psychological and physical after-effects of modern warfare.
Supporters of the competition said this year’s Poppy Day would involve more children and mark the beginning of a new kind of remembrance to the survivors of recent wars, particularly those suffering physical or mental afflictions.
East Ayrshire Council asked pupils at its schools to write about war in response to a book of poetry called A Private World, by the late Professor David Simpson, that deals with post-traumatic stress disorder.
It was the former Highland Light Infantryman’s dying wish that children be educated about warfare.
The competition also celebrates the 90th anniversary of Combat Stress, a charity that helps soldiers cope with the psychological aftermath of war.
Clive Fairweather, chief fundraiser for the charity, said: In my day, Remembrance Day tended to be about old veterans saluting and remembering their dead comrades. But starting from this one we will remember not just the dead, but also the living veterans who suffer from combat stress and who will be alive for a long time to come.
“There is an idea that somehow the covenant between the military and youth has been lost but it’s not the case. These poems cheered me up more than anything.”
Robyn, a pupil at Patna Primary School in Ayr, won the primary school section of the competition with her poem Poppies.
She wrote the poem in secret and her mother only heard she had penned it when a teacher phoned out of the blue to tell her Robyn had won the prize.
Robyn said: “Wars are all the same, they just take place in different countries. The people who have been to war must be sad, because they’ve seen their comrades killed by being blown up or shot.
“Wouldn’t it be better if veterans were cheered up by children who wanted to support them?
“Maybe we should give them a huge talent show, with all the schools, with one group singing, one group dancing and one group juggling. That would be pretty good.”
She will be presented with a £125 prize for her class next Friday by Provost Stephanie Young, at a concert to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Combat Stress.
Jay Conning, 13, from Stewarton Academy, was the winner in the secondary school part of the competition. He said: “I feel bad for the guys who have died out there in roadside bombings. I also feel for their families and it’s important to imagine how they must be feeling.”
The concert is part of the Provost’s campaign to raise £25,000 to build a new wing for Hollybush House in Ayr, which cares for ex-servicemen and women.
Provost Young said: “The public often only sees the physical damage of war, not the psychological damage: the people who come back shell-shocked and traumatised, who turn to drink or drugs because they are unable to cope.”
Poppies
By Robyn McCluskey
Patna Primary School (age 11)
Poppies are beautiful in so many ways, poppies are in bloom for so many days
Poppies all over the grass so green, poppies so lovely some not seen
Poppies to remember, so many gone, poppies to remember stars that shone
Poppies grow through the bad and the good, poppies remembering all who stood
Poppies shining in the night sky, poppies remembering all who die
Poppies swaying in the cold dark night, poppies trying to put all things right
Poppies crying for all the lives lost, poppies dying in the night frost
Poppies showing that they care, poppies growing everywhere
Poppies standing still in the grass, poppies smiling at all that pass
War Heroes
By Jay Conning from Stewarton Academy-age 13
Busy bees, bugs and butterflies
Look how my home made kite above sea level lies,
Brown paper,evening news, string and canes
Over fields, rivers and country lanes.”
“Left swoop right, held between my feet
Double loop, trouble free, birds swing sweet.
The Battle of Britain was a breeze
With my Spitfire kite thrashing the trees.”
“Now polished medals hang over crippled toes
Can’t walk, but knows where and when the wind blows.
Bees bugs and butterflies still haunt the sky
Someday soon so will I”
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