Evacuation Time

Getting geared up to take my class on a school trip on Friday. As part of a topic on WWII, we are visiting the air raid shelters underneath Stockport. I went three years ago and it was incredible.

We all get dressed up in period costume and travel there as an evacuated school. From the moment we step off the coach, were are treated in character by the staff who remain in role until we leave. It's terrific immersive (is that a word?) history trip that totally grabs the children's attention.

The shelters themselves are fascinating - they stretch for a long way under the town and a lot of it has been preserved so you get a real sense of what life down there must have been like. There are tons of stuff to see covering all aspects of life.

The fake gas mask box in the picture is to hold my lunch. I get all the kids to make one, and they have to use it to take a classic rationed pack-up in, with no modern delights! Potted beef, salt'n'shake and apples is about it! Some of them hate it, but they soon shut up when they see what they would have to have put up with had they lived back then.