Over 300 children from 9 schools around the county have dressed up in 1940’s clothing and been evacuated to The Forum to learn what life would have been like during World War II as part of the Imperial War Museum’s Their Past Your Future exhibition.

 

Origins, the Children’s Library and the BBC Voices team have teamed up to give the evacuees a real taste of life back in the 1940’s.

 

In the main Forum atrium, the exhibition has been home to WVS Pam McMillan, where she taught children about rationing, games they would have played and clothes their parents might have worn.  

 

The Air Raid Warden explained how he would have done his day job, then donned helmet and gas mask to patrol the area and marshal people into shelters. The specially constructed bomb shelter in Origins has provided a backdrop to instructing groups of evacuees in the art of putting out fires using a bucket chain, telling stories and discussing black out precautions.

 

In the Children’s Library, evacuees were instructed in the art of “Make Do and Mend”, showing how old jumpers would have been unravelled to make new items of clothing as going out and spending precious coupons on new clothing just wasn’t possible everyday in the war years. Children have learned how to knit and how to make slings and bandages.

 

In the BBC Voices room, using 1940’s microphones and 21^st century technology, evacuees have recorded their own news items and made recordings to take back to school.

 

James Eng, teacher at Catton Grove Middle School said, “The children enjoyed Evacuee Day very much and found it really useful as it tied in perfectly with the topics we have been studying at school. Their experiences at Evacuee Day ensured that the VE celebrations over the weekend were much more relevant.”

 

Funding for re-enactment teachers and transportation to the exhibition was provided to The Forum Trust as part of the Their Past Your Future grant so that all activities could be provided free of charge to school groups. Education Officer Kirsty Burn said, “Teaching children about the realities of war and the effect that it had on all areas of life, from staying up all night in an air raid shelter and still having to go to school in the morning, to not being able to go and buy new toys is a fundamental part of our history and essential that it be taught to younger generations.”

 

The evacuee days will be repeated at the Dad’s Army exhibition at Bressingham Steam Museum on Thursday 12^th May and at the Muckleburgh Collection in Weybourne on Friday 20^th May.