Agatha in the Great War – research project

We are looking for some young people from Torbay to help in a research project that will culminate in a short film that focusses on the life of Agatha Christie during World War I. The project is being supported by GWR and will have an emphasis on the role and importance of trains during the Great War. This project would particularly be suitable for secondary aged students.

The research will take place at Torquay Museum and involve finding photographs and other useful documents that can be used in the short film. This will be coordinated by the collections manager at the museum and be both a useful and interesting look through some of the museum’s archives.
The film will explore Agatha’s work as a volunteer nurse at the temporary hospital in Torquay (in the Assembly Rooms at Torquay Town Hall) and the wounded men she encountered there, who arrived by hospitals trains into Torquay and Torre Stations.

It will also include research into Belgian refugees who were welcomed into the town, who would go on to inspire her most famous detective Hercule Poirot. There is also some romance in the story, as Agatha and her new husband Archie Christie also travelled into Torquay by train for their one-night honeymoon at the Grand Hotel in Torquay on Christmas Eve 1914. Archie then headed back to his active service in the Airforce.

Please note, this opportunity is open to young people who go to school or college in Torbay or live and study in the local area.

To find out more and register your interest, please email education@iacf-uk.org