First hand acounts of the end of the first WW

first!

It’s not certain whether the poem ‘Everyone Sang’ (1919) by Siegfried Sassoon is about the end of WW1 or about soldiers singing in the trenches, but either way it seems fairly appropriate, and is less depressing than the Wilfred Owen poems that come to mind - Owen didn’t survive the war, of course, so he didn't write about the end of it. Sassoon did survive. It’s a first-hand account of something specific. You would need someone who’s good at reading poetry aloud.

If you don’t know it, it’s easily available via Google.

Good idea - I should have thought of that! Lots of thanks for the suggestion.

I'm not sure if there is anything on the RBL site which could point you in the right direction Luckygirl
www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/ww1-centenary/thank-you/

I will try to think of some other sources.

www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/index.htm

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae is one that is often read

The story of Ellis Humphrey Evans is also a poignant one - he won the bardic chair of the National Eisteddfod six weeks after he was killed on 31 July 1917.
www.snowdoniaheritage.info/en/person/734/hedd-wyn/

Why must I live in this grim age,
When, to a far horizon, God
Has ebbed away, and man, with rage,
Now wields the sceptre and the rod?
Man raised his sword, once God had gone,
To slay his brother, and the roar
Of battlefields now casts upon
Our homes the shadow of the war.
The harps to which we sang are hung,
On willow boughs, and their refrain
Drowned by the anguish of the young
Whose blood is mingled with the rain.

Although that may not be suitable if there are young children present.

If you have a local archive or history club, they may have some letters or excerpts from diaries you could use.

A local newspaper probably has something too, but you may need the help of the local library to find out where the 1918 papers are archived.

W B Yeats - an Irish airman foresees his death is one we learnt at school.
Vera Brittain - Perhaps
noglory.org/index.php/multimedia/poetry-and-spoken-word/221-vera-brittain-perhaps

Through the wire by Harry Foster - a letter from the Somme, August 1916 from 20 year old Harry Foster to his Mother:
www.biblesociety.org.uk/what-we-do/england-and-wales/world-war-1/stories/soldiers/through-gods-help-alone-i-survived/

A Matter of Seconds by George Hever Vinall, 1915:
lifefaithetc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/a-soldier-bullet-and-bible.html

The book 'Hear my Cry' - words for when there are no words is a useful source
www.biblesociety.org.uk/products/9780564049233/
Although it is from the Bible Society and you may be holding a concert, not a religious service, there are also poignant letters, poems and readings in there.

Street parties started in 1919
www.streetparty.org.uk/history.aspx

Wow!!! - thanks so very much.

I can't find a lot about celebrations except for the street parties - didn't they come back to 'A Land Fit for Heroes' which proved not to be the case?
www.phm.org.uk/whatson/a-land-fit-for-heroes-war-and-the-working-class-1914-1918/