YOUNGSTERS from Dumbarton and the Vale were treated to a story with a twist at Dumbarton Library as one of the Dunbartonshire Council heritage team’s World War I centenary events.

The story of a young soldier from Dumbarton during WWI, and his family at home helping with the war effort, unfolded before listeners at the Heritage Centre with the help of puppeteer and artist Sylvia Troon.

The storytelling experience, which featured a handful of puppets, was held alongside an exhibition at the centre called From Living Memory to Memorial, which will feature at the library until the end of November this year.

Sylvia, who is from the north of Fife, made all of the puppets involved in the story by hand and feels that this kind of storytelling is an effective way of illustrating the themes expressed within a story.

As well as the soldier and a host of animals, the former art teacher made a large number of female characters to help create an image of why women during WWI were forced to take on roles that they were not used to.

She told the Reporter: “The storytelling with puppets is something for all ages and we had a lot of participation from those who came along to listen.

“It was both fun and educational and plenty of people joined in which was lovely. I tried to reference the exhibition within the story as well to tie the two together a little bit more.”

The 73-year-old became involved in the project after creating stories for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum in Stirling Castle which has links with the heritage team in Dumbarton.

Sylvia’s storytelling complimented a unique collection of documents, photographs and artefacts relating to WWI including the Minute Books and Muster Rolls for the 1/9th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders held by the council’s heritage team.