Separation struggles

Military child Freddie Gidalla, aged 11, has written this heart-felt poem about how he feels being away from his dad.   Anxiety   What is this feeling I don’t understand?My heart starts to beat I can’t cont...

Solidarity from the Sky

A poem by Jennifer Mary Jones They fell from the sky, As beautiful raindrops,Cascading downwards As far as the eye can see.A streamlined symbol of solidarity. Each separate yet somehow one. Like a firework ...

Month of the Military Child competition winners

Annually in April, Never Such Innocence holds a poetry and art competition for Month of the Military Child. The 2023 theme was 'Friends Near and Far'. Winners were invited to the Main Building of the Ministry...
Children sitting on a wall reading

Poems in print

A poetry writing initiative at MOD schools during lockdown has produced so much creative work, it has been turned into a poetry anthology by Defence Children Services. Across the Oceans, illustrated by the chi...

Success in song

A group of young singers have recorded Welcome Home, a song written by service children, for service children, with The Voice! finalist, Bethzienna Williams, at Abbey Road Studios in London. The song won first p...

Winning wordsmith

Never Such Innocence, which runs an annual international poetry, art, speech and song competition for youngsters aged nine to 18, focusing on conflict and its impact, has announced its 2020-21 winners. Army ch...

A military child

This heart-felt poem, by army child Tyler Larkin, topped the age 9-11 poetry category in the Never Such Innocence poetry, art, speech and song competition. It runs annually for youngsters aged nine to 18, and t...

The son of a soldier

To commemorate April’s Month of the Military Child, we are sharing a poignant poem written by year 11 pupil, Jese Raratabu, from Wavell School, who wrote it as part of his English GCSE work during lockdown… Be...

Paperchains award-winning entries

Following the Paperchains Project, a lockdown initiative which created a spotlight for young people, including armed forces families, to express their feelings through art, poetry or writing, Army&You is de...

The Paperchains Project

The idea for Paperchains came from author A.G. Smith, whose ground-breaking work in prisons has been highlighted by Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire and BBC Radio 4’s PM. It was created following the Prime Minist...