Parts of Westbury went back in time this week, as filming began for the town’s First World War community commemoration, All Quiet on the Westbury Front.

The churchyard at All Saints was the scene as youngsters dressed in Edwardian costume played while their mothers looked on.

“When the film is finished, we will edit out the old war memorial which stands there now, which we hope will make it quite poignant,” explained director Sally Boyle.

“We also filmed a piece with the war memorial, which is being restored at the moment, with the children talking to the stonemason about the restoration work, and the idea is to go back in time, to see what Westbury was like before the war affected it.”

The commemoration project will feature arts, music, film, songs and poems, and will be staged as part of the Westbury Music and Arts Festival at All Saints Church in October.

Planning for the project began earlier this year, and now the script is written and work has begun on some of the sets and backdrops.

“We were very keen to involve children from local schools, and the schools have already been working on creating tapestries with poppies on,” explained Mrs Boyle.

“The idea is to show the effect the war had on ordinary people, so it’s written from the point of view of two families, before the war, after the soldiers went and their experiences on the front and then the effect on the people still living in Westbury, what life was like for them in the war.”

Mrs Boyle took on the role of director having spent many years working with the Starry Eyes performance troupe and having had a play staged at The Athenaeum in Warminster. Some Starry Eyes members will be involved in this venture, and she is holding open auditons on Monday to find more singers, both children and adults.

These will be held in the function room at the Railway Inn on Station Road, Westbury, from 7pm, and anyone is welcome to turn up and try out for a role.