One hundred year old notebooks have inspired a drama project for children which will be launched on Saturday at a Chester museum.
The Cheshire Military Museum, Grosvenor Museum and Minerva Arts are working in partnership on Mabel’s War, a 10 week project that will create a brand new piece of drama.
The project is based on the 100-year- old notebooks of Mabel, a Cheshire nurse who collected stories, poems, letters and drawings from the soldiers she cared for in the First World War.
One of five children Mabel Harriet Earp was born in October 1879 in Runcorn.
The daughter of William Richard Earp, a chemical manufacturer and Emma (nee Armstrong), Mabel worked as a volunteer nurse during the First World War at Oaklands Military hospital (Preston Brook) and Frodsham Auxiliary Hospital (which was located on the site of the skating rink, close to where the Frodsham War Memorial now stands).
Mabel married George Bertram Leach on February 7th 1918. George was a civil engineer who had served with the Royal Engineers during the war until his medical discharge as a result of wounds in July 1917.
Mabel died on December 24, 1947.
On Saturday, November 23 from 10am-12, there will be a free taster drama workshop for seven-11-year-olds at Cheshire Military Museum led by Minerva Arts artistic director Steph Brocken.
Steph said: “Minerva Arts are really excited to have the chance to work on the Mabel's War project and can't wait to get started. Join us at the taster workshop and find out how you can be part of this unique performance inspired by Nurse Mabel’s note books.”
You do not need to book for the workshop, just turn up Cheshire Military Museum, The Castle, at 10am.
Mabel’s War is part of the Cheshire’s Great War Stories, a project commemorating the centenary of the Great War.