Actors from a city theatre company had a leading role in the First World War reenactment of the march of volunteers from Port Sunlight to Chester to enlist for the Great War.
Hundreds of factory workers, many dressed in period costume, lined up in front of Lever Hall on Sunday, September 7, to hear Sir William Lever, played by Theatre in the Quarter's Will Wood, reprise the rousing speech given to the enlisting men a century ago.
He said: “We are proud of you. This is the proudest moment in the life of Port Sunlight because the men of Port Sunlight have volunteered in this way to defend our countrymen and King in this time of stress and strain.
“I know you will give a good account of yourselves.”
The Lever Brothers employees were the largest number of volunteers to enlist from any works in the country when they signed up for the 13th battalion of the Cheshire Regiment on September 7, 1914. Of the Port Sunlight men who went to war, around 100 were killed during the 1914-18 conflict.
Artistic director of Theatre in the Quarter Matt Baker then led the volunteers in a sing song on their train journey to Chester and as they paraded through the city to be enlisted by Frodsham 's Douglas Cashin, as General MacKinnon, of Western Command.
He said: "It was a real honour for Theatre in the Quarter to orovide the key characters of Lord Lever and General MacKinnon as well as all the singing on the march.
"Whatever effort we put in however could never match the bravery of those people in whose footsteps we were following."
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of The Mercian Regiment, Army Cadets, Sea Cadets, Air Training Corps, the Combined Cadet Force and representatives from the Royal British Legion also joined the volunteers for the final stages of their walk to Chester Castle.
Watch a video of the Port Sunlight march from our photographer Ian Cooper
