Museum Nan Eilean And MpH Pool Resources For Schools’ Wartime Event
24/12/2009
To give island school children a flavour of what it was like to live through the Second World War, Museum Curator Màiri Robertson and MpH Musical Director Gavin Woods arranged a special programme of events for pupils from Tong, Lionel and Stornoway Primary Schools, and first-year students from The Nicolson Institute. For Museum nan Eilean, this event was the culmination of a year long project called Remembering Lewis at War, 1939-1945, one of 28 Their Past Your Future projects around the country and the start of a new partnership - with MpH.
Gavin Woods explained: “We have a generation of children growing up now whose parents have no experience of war, and their grandparents are the only link to this historic period. All the children were doing World War II Projects, and as we were staging our Glenn Miller Big Band Tribute Nights, it seemed an ideal opportunity to combine a history lesson with the music of the time.”
The pupils, most of whom had dressed up as evacuees, started off at the Museum, where they watched a short film made by pupils at Sgoil Lionacleit for FilmG called Roghainn Dhomhnaill (Donald's Choice) which explores in Gaelic concepts of bravery and courage and in which war medals from the museums collections are a key feature. Pupils visited a display of WW2 objects that the museum has collected over the years including the Stornoway air raid siren and had a handling session and talk with the Curator. A machine gun salvaged from a Sunderland Flying Boat aircraft which crashed in Lochboisdale in May 1942 and which the rear gunner was lucky to survive was the focus of much interest.Special thanks to Comman Eachdraidh Uibhist a Deas who lent this object for the event. Pupils then listened to Dan Murray, who was a youngster growing up during the war and Chrisella Ross, Project Officer on Remembering Lewis at War, who facilitated the session.
They then trooped down to the British Legion, where Royal Air Force Association members showed them wartime posters, ration books and other documents used during wartime.
When the warning siren sounded, Pat Hodges, ARP for the event, blew her whistle, shouted for the lights to be put out, and the pupils sat quietly through the blackout while RAFA members ran dramatic footage of fire-fighters battling to put out the flames of bombed buildings during the London Blitz, accompanied by the sound of falling bombs.
When the All-Clear was announced, members of the MpH Big Band launched into a short set – Woodchoppers’ Ball, Li’l Darlin’ , Let it Snow! and “We’ll Meet Again”, performed by singer and music teacher Cath Fish, who got all the children to join in.
Gavin Woods said: “Music and going out to dances was incredibly important during wartime, because it helped everybody forget the horror of what was happening outside. The children really enjoyed the event and came away with a sense of what it would be like to live during the war – and one group also wanted the opportunity to show off their jiving!”
Màiri Robertson said: ”We are pleased to have the opportunity to encourage young people to learn about the effect war had on peoples lives. Their Past Your Future (TPYF) is a project that aims to preserve the memories of those who experienced war first hand and explore the broad theme of military service in the Western Isles in World War II to ensure that the memories of war are never forgotten, enabling generations within communities to discover personal stories which have affected or involved their local area.”
The TPYF Project Officer Chrisella Ross and Coordinator, Sarah Egan in collecting reminiscences from veterans (both military and civilian) and illustrating them with digitised images, will place these on a website featuring online exhibitions on the themes of World War II and subsequent conflicts. Launching in 2010, the website will mark the impact of the 65th anniversary of World War II in Scotland with invaluable first hand accounts and digitised coverage. The vignettes and related historic objects from Lewis and 28 other areas around Scotland will be available as a classroom teaching aid via Learning and Teaching Scotland’s new Scottish schools’ intranet, Glow. This ensures these projects become a rich educational resource for teachers and a global legacy for young people and the wider community involved... www.tpyfscotland.org.uk
Their Past Your Future is led by a partnership of; the Imperial War Museum; Museums, Libraries and Archives England; Northern Ireland Museum Council; National Library of Wales, and; Museums Galleries Scotland. The programme is supported by the Big Lottery Fund.
As reported in:
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Stornoway Gazette (24/12/09)