Daughters WW2 History Project

[nina999]

Hi, My 11 year old daughter is doing a history project on World War 2.

We have already got information out of history books and the internet but would really love to hear personal stories from ordinary people of their memories about this time.

 

Some topics are:

 

Evacuees and the life of children during WW2

The Battle of Britain

The Home Guard

The Blitz

Coast defences

The war at sea

Life in the cities,rationing,air raid shelters etc

Digging for Victory

Women at War

 

Looking forward to hearing from you, thanks.

[Bayern Blade]

Good to hear that your daughter is taking an interest in history.

I'm not old enough to be able to give eye witness info but I am an amateur historian specialising in WWII, (ironically living in Germany), and if you need any basic info please let me know.

[Strix]

Sorry I'm not old enough or local enough to help directly, but did you come across these films?

[cat631]

Thanks for the link, I haven't seen this before. Really interesting.

[CityAngel]

I agree its good for them to hear experiences - we took our son to France in October half term and did all the WW2 beaches etc - some great musuems and it really brought it all to life, good luck.

[Hazelmay]

Nice to hear children are still learning about the war.

 

I was born just after the war but heard many stories both from my father, who was in the army overseas and my mother coping on the home front.

 

My grandparents raised chickens and rabbits in their garden, as well as growing vegetables of course.

 

The chickens were kept mainly for the eggs, but every once in a while they had a chicken dinner. When this happened, they had to call in my Greatgrandmother to dispatch the poor chicken. She grew up on a farm and was the only one who could bring herself to kill them.

 

They bought tiny chicks to raise and while they were small, my mother took them to bed with her in a box, to keep them warm.

 

The rabbits lasted longer as no-one wanted to eat the fluffy little creatures.

 

So out of their small garden, they managed to supplement their rations quite well.

[Kidorry]

Have you seen the dvd,Sheffield at war,The Blitz.It is very good with people talking about their experiences during the war.I have a copy somewhere.

[helbco]

I will send you a PM which was sent to someone else whose son was working on a similar school project. If you have any more specific questions I can refer to my mother who lived through all that.

[soft ayperth]

I'd also suggest she go through wartime editions of The Star and Telegraph on microfiche at the Local Studies Library in the main library on Surrey St. Back then, the newspapers were far better quality than they are nowadays and they carried real news. The war was front and foremost, of course. I know this because I was looking through them myself this past summer. Take the Sheffield Blitz, for example. 12 & 15 Dec, 1940. So, have her go through the editions during and just after that period. Staff at the LSL will be helpful to her in locating the reels and using the readers. Relevant pages can be printed off so she can read them more carefully at home.

[Amyvictoria]

I’m not old enough to remember the war but my grandmother was a child living in Barnsley during the war. She told me that she would watch the air raids on Sheffield from her bedroom window and to her it was like a firework display.