All Quiet on The Westbury Front, Westbury.

The project was a big undertaking for producer Sally Boyle, who said there were times she thought it would not come together. But all the cast and behind the scenes crew made it alright on the night.

“It was quite scary because the nature of the project existed of many aspects from the community and different talents and skills,” she said.

“Not only were there many parts to it but it had to be pulled together technically and using film, poetry, singing, dancing and acting. It felt like a huge challenge as there were so many areas where it could have gone wrong, but everybody brought it together beautifully.”

The film produced by Stephen Brown featured scenes in the churchyard which took the audience back in time from the monument being restored to the days before it existed. The stone mason filmed carving the date in the stone was real. Stephen magically manages to make the monument disappear, and the children playing on the grass were in Victorian dress, as were the adults walking in the grounds. Sally Hendry kindly agreed to her cottage being used in the film.

The film went into a live show which continued the story of how the Great War came about and how it affected the people of Westbury. The scenery was painted by local artist Alex Prowse. There were banners decorated in poppy prints and the soldier’s names by the children of Westbury Infant School.

Sound engineers Nigel Ricketts and Ern Priddey had a tall order to make sure all the sound and lighting went according to plan. The actors brought the story over with meaning and expression, especially Joseph Medway, who played the part of an under-age soldier who died at the front. The music, the poetry and the dancing brought the characters to life and everyone was taken on a rather emotional rollercoaster ride, which is rather how the people of Westbury felt back them.

People from different clubs, groups and backgrounds took part. Some people were very talented and some had no experience at all. There were people from The Rotary, The Westbury Lions, the town council, the mayor and the town clerk, the church, Westbury Arts and Music Festival, Starry Eyes performance foundation, props and costume designer from the Athenaeum in Warminster as well as professional singers Frank Hackett of Murphy’s Wake and amateur singers and dancers.

Says Sally: “It was a very big cast and what was really scary about it was that we only had one practise the night before to practise with the set that had been built in the church, along with the technical equipment and film show. It was all in the lap of the Gods on Saturday and thankfully it ran beautifully with very few hiccups. The feedback so far has all been very positive.”

The next project is to make a film of the story which is based on an original story written by Sally Boyle and based on people’s opinions and historic fact, and then bringing it together as a script which was a real joint effort of community spirit.

The production was well received by the capacity audience.