Children from 6 Isle of Wight schools will discover what it was like to be evacuated during World War II at Havenstreet’s Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The annual event will see Havenstreet transformed between 20th-23rd June 2016 to replicate a wartime station.
Organised by Isle of Wight Council’s Heritage Service, the event recreates the scenario that tens of thousands of school children went through at the beginning of the war.
Pupils and staff from the schools will all dress up in World War II clothes and will arrive at the Steam Railway complete with gas mask ahead of a ride of the train, mirroring the experience from the war years.
Pupils will taste authentic wartime food – such as eggless cake – and learn about rationing and make-do-and-mend toys. As happened during the war, there’s every chance the lessons could be interrupted at any time by an air raid siren. If this happens, the pupils must cram into an air raid shelter. As they board their train and are waved off from the platform, they will get a real feeling for how it might have felt to be evacuated all those years ago.
Monday to Thursday there will be morning sessions, with trains of evacuees leaving from Havenstreet.
The activities have been put together by the Heritage Education Service to support the learning of students as part of their local history programme.
