Special Events

We offer our young people the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of special events throughout the year. Here are a few examples!

Hillsborough Castle

Children from across Northern Ireland were invited to Hillsborough Castle by NSI and the Northern Ireland Office to celebrate poems they had written on the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Click the image to read their work!

Britain’s Got Talent

Our Voices of Armed Forces Children performed on the 2022 Series of BGT and made it to the LIVE Semi Finals!

Armed Forces Day

Service children took part in the raising of the flag at the House of Parliament for Armed Forces Day 2022 at the request of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. ©UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Remembrance Day

One of our young ambassadors gave a keynote speech at the Bundestag in Germany for Remembrance Day 2020.

House of Lords

Young people performed their creative pieces in front of distinguished guests.

Centenary Finale

To wrap up the Centenary, we held a special awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace for our winners. It was an unforgettable day!

Never Such Innocence

Never Such Innocence is a registered charity (number 1156148) in England and Wales and is a unique project fitting into the wider series of 2014-2018 centenary activities. Our aim is to ensure young people nationally are inspired, informed and included in the centenary activities.

The charity takes its name from Philip Larkin’s famous poem MCMXIV, which reflects on the changes caused by the First World War. The driving force behind Never Such Innocence is Lady Lucy French, great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Sir John French who commanded the British Expeditionary Forces from 1914-15.

The launch of Never Such Innocence was kindly hosted at Australia House in May 2014 with a gala dinner and theatrical performance, blending poetry, prose and music from the Great War, compiled by Dr Martin Stephen. Since our inception we have been dedicated to engaging the nation’s children in the First World War centenary through learning, poetry, art and music.

T: 0207 836 2603
11 Slingsby Place, London,
WC2E 9AB

Never Such Innocence.
Registered Charity Number 1156148 Company Number 8680319

Don’t know about you, but I’ve been doing the classic hold this hanger up, then hold that hanger up to pick my outfit for Friday! Still time to do some shopping! We can’t wait to see everyone’s fantastic outfits! Be sure to post them with #MotMC!

ONE MONTH LEFT TO GO! The deadline to enter our FREE international poetry, art, speech and song competition is Friday 24th May 2024! Open to young people aged 9-18 everywhere! Follow the link in our bio to enter. Artist credit: Indigenismo XXI by Rafaela (16-18, Ecuador)

@anotherartclub ran workshops in Helensburgh last week for Month of the Military Child at John Logie Baird Primary School, Colgrain Primary School, Rhu Primary School and Hermitage Primary School. We were really impressed with the cyanotype prints that were created by the pupils. Enter our Month of the Military Child Art Competition at the link in bio!

We are always so proud of our International Ambassadors. Recently, our Young Ambassador Mariam visited her old school in celebration of our Tenth Anniversary. “It was an absolute pleasure of mine to help celebrate the organisation by giving back to society. Earlier this week, I visited my old school to speak with them and enlighten them about Never Such Innocence, thus encouraging them to participate in the upcoming competitions and get a chance to express themselves as well! In commemoration of NSI’s 10th anniversary, as a Young Ambassador of the organization, I have created awareness for young people of the age category to put forth their talents and enter into contests, especially those organized by Never Such Innocence.”