Funded through the Shropshire WW1 Community Consortium and supported by Pentabus, the show will tour locally and nationally over the next four years.

As a ‘taster’ for My Dearest Girls, the show’s acclaimed writer and performer, Francesca Millican Slater, has developed a short piece, Helen’s Story, focusing on one of the six women: Helen, a farmer’s daughter living near Much Wenlock.

Through Helen’s own words we hear about women working on the land, the impact of the war on family and farm and her own wait for news from the front.

Sian Kerry, Arts Alive Director, says: “Francesca Millican Slater loves to weave real archive material into live theatre and we are really grateful to Shropshire Archives for their support. We wanted to programme a piece of work that was about WW1 from a domestic, rural perspective, so we approached Francesca and invited her to dig into the archives, to see what revealed itself. ‘My Dearest Girls’ is exactly what we hoped for and Helen’s Story a wonderful introduction: daily life against the background of the global conflict and a fascinating link with young Shropshire women of 100 years ago.”

Shropshire audiences will remember Francesca Millican Slater’s highly successful show Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs and won’t want to miss this new piece.

My Dearest Girls; Helen’s Story is at:

Fordhall Organic Farm
Sunday 6th July, 11am,1pm, 3pm, as part of Fordhall’s Summer Fair. Tickets £2, in addition to entry to the Fair.

Bishop’s Castle Town Hall
Sunday 3rd August, 11.30am and 2.30pm. Tickets £7 and £3.50 – includes guided tour of House on Crutches museum and a WW1 ration token for refreshments in a vintage tea room! Box Office: 01588 630023.