The group of 17 children performing the concert "Children Remember" are doing three shows next Wednesday, November 11, at Theatre Orangeville, of which only one is open to the public. (The other two are fully booked with school groups.)

I went to a rehearsal to listen to the kids with the Theatre Orangeville Academy Musical Theatre, getting ready for those three productions. In addition, I had some questions I wanted to ask them about the whole business of remembrance.

Arriving in a bit early, I found Anne Reid, the organiser and director of the event, on her own, which gave me the chance to chat to her first.

Already the author/director of two fairy tale productions with the Musical Theatre group, Anne has taken on the task of putting together music, words and poetry for this production.

She has hunted far and wide for just the right pieces to portray the themes of remembrance, hope and Flanders Field. She has designed it so that there is an interweaving of music with dialogue.

The poetry comes from a collection of writings from children in the former Yugoslavia, who suffered through their own times of war.

Soon, the young people had filtered in — 17 of them, aged 10 to 14 years. Anne gave me the floor and I took the moment to ask why they answered the advertisement Anne put in the paper to recruit performers for the project. All of them said they loved to sing and perform. Many mentioned that they had worked with Anne before.

But what about the subject matter this time, I wanted to know. What did it mean to them? I asked them first which of them now wanted to help change things, who had it in mind to make a difference with their lives in the future. One hand went up.

Change tactics. Encouraged by more questions and prodding, they began to talk about their budding knowledge of how war affected not only soldiers but the innocent as well: the children, their mothers and other members of their families who were not involved in the actual fighting.

Here are some quotes:

"I learned how lucky we are to be here."

"We want those children to know that we remember them even though it was a long time ago."

"And, now, today, we're thinking of those children where there's still war, but far away from here."

"I knew about the wars but I didn't know the details."

Most of them have relatives who fought during one of the wars in the last 60 years. Most now understand the loss of a loved one in battle, having spoken to the ones left behind.

"I'm starting to understand how bad war is."

"I might be more interested in what's in the newspapers now."

It was time for me to relinquish them back to their director but I had one more question, a repeat question.

"How many of you think you want to make a difference — to help bring an end to war?"

Every hand went up.

While the first two concerts on November 11 are for school groups, be sure to attend the evening performance.

The kids know why they are there. They understand, as much as they can, what their message is.

The public performance takes place at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be reserved but payment is by donation, which funds go to the Legion, Col. Fitzgerald, Branch 233, to support their annual public speaking contest. Ticket reservations through the Theatre Orangeville Box Office.