Peggy Thorpe Workshop Resource Pack

Keep the Home Fires BurningWorld War Two: Coal Mining and the Home Front

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All material © National Coal Mining Museum for England, 2011, unless where stated.

Unauthorised reproduction is strictly forbidden.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England is grateful for the assistance from the Imperial War Museum (IWM Images) and Yorkshire Post Newspapers for assistance in providing photographs.

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Contents

Teachers’ Introductory Notes ..................................................................................... 5

Section 1: Peggy Thorpe – An Introduction ............................................................ 7

Section 2: 1944 Fact Finder ........................................................................................ 8

Section 3: Who would be an Evacuee? ............................................................... 10

Section 4: Evacuee Role-Play ................................................................................. 12

Gas Mask Box Template ........................................................................................ 13

Section 5: War-time Word Search .......................................................................... 14

Section 6: Explore and Discover Activities for the Classroom ............................ 15

Section 7: Wartime Activities ................................................................................... 16

How to Make a Rag Rug ....................................................................................... 16

Wartime Recipes .................................................................................................... 17

Games Children Played ........................................................................................ 20

Skipping Songs ........................................................................................................25

Songs and Music..................................................................................................... 26

Further Reading .......................................................................................................... 27

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Teachers’ Introductory Notes

This pack has been designed to support the Peggy Thorpe – Keep the Home Fires Burning workshop for schools available at the National Coal Mining Museum for England. However, the material can be used as a resource pack to support study of the Second World War at Key Stage 2 without the need to visit.

We advise you use sections 1-4 before your visit, as well as making use of the two sets of picture cards also included in this pack. This will enable your pupils to get the most out of the live-interpretation session when on-site.

You may like to arrive at the workshop with the children prepared to play their part as evacuees complete with identification labels and gas-mask boxes – see section 4 for more information.

The remaining sections of this pack include suggested activities and resources for further development at school.

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Section 1: Peggy Thorpe – An Introduction

Peggy Thorpe is married to a miner. They have lived in the same colliery village all their married life.

They have two school-aged children: a boy and a girl. Life has always been hard in the pit village, but the War against Hitler’s Germany that broke out in 1939 has brought extra difficulties.

It is now 1944.

This is Peggy’s home

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Section 2: 1944 Fact Finder

The tide had finally turned and it seemed that the War could be won. Although our nation did not know it yet, there was only one more year of the War to go. It would end in victory for the Allied forces in 1945.

On the 30th April the first pre-fabricated house was ready. These ‘pre-fabs’ were complete, temporary, single-storey homes. They were built in just a few hours and were promised to families that had been bombed out. The floor plan of these houses measured 616 square feet (57.2 square metres). Find a large area and measure this out. How many rooms could you fit into this space? Is there room for a bedroom of your own?

There were fresh rumours of a gas attack. Although it never happened, it reminded people of how important it was always to carry their gas mask.

Sweets and chocolate were rationed. Well-known varieties, such as Mars Bars, were almost unobtainable. Some people would cut their chocolate bars into thin slices to make them last for more than a month. Other children ate toothpaste instead of sweets. Imagine a world without sweets! Discuss with your friends what other foods you could eat in place of sweets.

On the 6th June the British and their allies landed in Normandy, France. This was called D-Day. The long-awaited plan to recapture Europe from Hitler and the Nazis had finally begun.

Most British households had only 1 ton (just over 1000 kg) of coal or coke a month for heating the home. Remember this was the only form of energy available to many households. It was used for heating, cooking and the provision of hot water. Therefore, people had to find ways of saving energy. One way was to limit your bath water to a depth of only 5 inches (12.5 cm). Get a ruler. Would the water reach your knees or your ankles?

On the 13th June the first of Hitler’s secret super weapons, the V1 flying bombs (nicknamed doodlebugs), fell on London. They were designed to terrify war-weary Brits. You heard the noise of their engines, but when the engine went silent, you knew the bomb was falling towards you. This terror campaign caused many more people to evacuate the cities.

So many people kept chickens that by 1944 more than a quarter of the nation’s fresh eggs were produced from garden chickens. What other animals that would help to provide food could you keep in a small garden?

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On the 20th July, there was an attempt by senior German Army officers to assassinate Hitler with a bomb. The plot failed.

By this time in the War, women had proved they could do most jobs just as well as men. For example, they worked on the railways as mechanics and with the Post Office as cable repairers. Those in the armed forces proved they could match the men in terms of courage and stamina. No women worked in the mines though! Why do you think that was?

On the 25th August, the Allied forces liberated Paris which, along with the rest of France, had been occupied by the Nazis. The British Army freed Brussels on 3rd September and Antwerp on the 4th September.

All of these liberated countries removed the Nazi swastika from their public buildings (such as libraries, museums and city halls) and raised their own countries’ flags again. Look at an atlas. Can you find these cities? Which flag would fly over their public buildings?

The British Commander-in-Chief, General Montgomery, had devised a plan to end the war quickly. On the 17th September, thousands of men were parachuted over enemy lines in Holland. The plan failed.

In the late summer, many schoolchildren joined the ‘Lend a Hand on the Land’ campaign. Camps were set up on farms where children could live in tents for a couple of weeks and help bring in the harvest. What crops do you think they would have helped to bring in from the fields and orchards?

By the 30th September German troops in Boulogne and Calais (France) surrendered. However, there were a lot more battles to be fought before the war finally ended in 1945.

On December 16th, Glenn Miller, the American big-band leader, went missing in his plane whilst flying over the English Channel. Glenn Miller entertained thousands of Allied troops during the war. This helped to boost their morale. Can you find some of his music and enjoy it as the soldiers and their sweethearts did?

An important Education Act was passed in 1944. This guaranteed that all children would be given schooling up to the age of fifteen.

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Section 3: Who would be an Evacuee?

Throughout the late 1930s people knew that another war might break out at any time. By 1939 the Government had made many plans. One of these was to evacuate children who lived in all the large industrial cities and major ports to the countryside. It was thought that they would be safe from bombing raids there.

In these early days the evacuation plan was named ‘Operation Pied Piper’. This was an unusual codename considering the original Pied Piper came from Hamelin (Hameln), which is in Germany!

Over a million children were evacuated, and therefore separated from their homes and families. Many had never been away from home before in all their lives.

Most of the children were evacuated by the Government, along with their school friends.

All the children were lined up in their school playgrounds with armbands or luggage labels to identify them (just like parcels!) They carried their gas masks and a small case or bag of clothes.

They travelled by bus or train with their teachers or helpers. Sometimes the journeys were very long – perhaps hundreds of miles. Even the teachers did not always know where they were going!

On arrival they were met by a Billeting Officer. This person had to find homes for the evacuees with the local people. They would try to keep members of the same family together, although this did not always happen.

In some cases the Billeting Officer allowed the local families to choose children for themselves. Often the well-dressed, pretty or strong children were picked first. This was very upsetting for those children who were left to the last.

The children were given a postcard to send home to their anxious parents to reassure them that they were safe.

The evacuees’ new lives in the country often proved to be very different. For many it was a happy time; they made new friends and learned the ways of the countryside. Some stayed for the whole six years of war. For others the change was too great and they returned to their old homes within a few weeks.

There was a second wave of evacuations in 1944. The new rocket bombs, nicknamed ‘doodlebugs’, had caused fresh terror in the cities.

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Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Images) Ref: D 2591

Evacuees from Bristol arriving at Brent station near Kingsbridge in Devon, 1940. About 175 children were evacuated at this time from Bristol to the Kingsbridge area of Devon.

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Section 4: Evacuee Role-Play

Use these activities to help immerse your class into the lives of evacuated children. You could also bring them with you when you visit.

The template of a gas mask box on the following page can be photocopied and blown-up onto A3 sized card for the class to make at school. The boxes would have been made from brown cardboard, and your class can decorate theirs in a 1940s style.

Once they have made the box, tell them they must carry the box with them all day, or even all week – during the War, everybody would need to carry their gas-mask with them at all times.

Evacuees would also have worn tags, in order that children did not get lost, and made it to the right destination. Your class can make their own using parcel tags, or a piece of card cut into the right size and shape. The tags would have looked a bit like this:

GOVERNMENT EVACUATION SCHEME:

Code No. _________ Party No. _________

Name __________________________________

Home Address _____________________________

_____________________________

School __________________________________

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PACKING OF RESPIRATOR.

The respirator should be placed in box with heavy end (container) standing on bottom of box.

The transparent eyepiece should lie evenly on the top of the container and at full length without any deformation under the lid. WHEN RESPIRATOR IS REQUIRED FOR USE. 1. Hold Respirator by the straps 2. Put on by first putting chin into the facepiece and

then draw the straps over the head. Adjust straps to obtain close but comfortable fit.

3. Take off by pulling the straps over the head from the back. DO NOT TAKE RESPIRATOR OFF BY PULLING THE CONTAINER UPWARDS OVER THE FACE.

Gas Mask Box Template

Try to fold your box so that the instructions are on the inside of the lid.

Remember not to stick your lid down - you may need to get your gas mask out!

For best results, photocopy this onto some A3 card.

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Section 5: War-time Word Search

Complete the word search. If there are some words you do not know, try to find out their meaning.

A K Z W B G W S P I T F I R E

M R O U E M F U M O B Y B D J

F F R M V A W I R E L E S S P

J L F D I Y Y C N G A Y J K F

F G H A N I T Q S A C V S S A

C E H I B C R D Y S K H R Q B

D V A X O O A G O M O L P Z B

W A M L Y C T P V A U G W M I

X C P F S O I W L S T R F U L

M U N I T I O N S K F J B S L

H E E Y R M N S L N R K U K E

W E C T Q X B A O T H X H K T

H S O U N C O J S D Q P O T S

D K M Y U C O T F Z W F Z J G

S R S T W O K T X A C J A Z N

EVACUEE

RATIONBOOK

SPITFIRE

COAL

WIRELESS

BEVINBOYS

BLACKOUT

GASMASK

BILLETS

MUNITIONS

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Section 6: Explore and Discover Activities for the Classroom

The following are a list of activity ideas for your class that can be done in the classroom to support a visit to the Museum, or for any work on coal mining and the Second World War.

Produce a PowerPoint presentation about your visit to the Museum. Draw a cartoon strip of a day in the life of Peggy Thorpe. Remember to

add some captions. Imagine you are an evacuee. Write a letter home describing life in the

wartime pit village. Write a newspaper front page report using the title ‘Bevin Boys are Not

Cowards!’ Design your own propaganda poster. This is to help women like Peggy

remember important information on how they can help the War effort. Use a catchy slogan!

Collect scraps of fabric and make a miniature rag rug or use craft or recycled materials to construct a model of an aeroplane, tank or boat.

Plant a potato in a box of compost or grow some herbs from seed on the windowsill. Share the results with each other. In the War, people often clubbed together and helped each other to produce food.

Use magazines to make a photograph montage of everything that coal was used for during the War.

Make a war-time table display. Plan and enjoy your own war-time party. Use the recipes, games and

songs that you will find at the end of this pack to help you. Find out about Bevin Boys.

Why not book a videoconference session about the Bevin Boys with the National Coal Mining Museum for England?

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Section 7: Wartime Activities

Use the activities, recipes, games and songs on the following pages to demonstrate how life would be for families like Peggy’s during the War.

How to Make a Rag Rug

You will need: A5-sized piece of sacking or hessian A pencil Rags or old pieces of fabric in various colours and patterns Scissors

What to do: Draw a simple pattern on your piece of hessian, such as a circle or diamond.

Cut your pieces of fabric into strips, approximately 8cm (3 or 4 inches) long and 2cm (just under 1 inch) wide.

Using your pencil as a prodder, make a hole in the hessian and push one end of a rag strip through. Make a second hole about 1 cm (about ½ inch) away from the first hole and, again using your pencil prodder, push the other end of the rag back through the hessian

Look at your hessian. Both ends of the rag strip should be of equal length on the same side. This will be the top side up of your mini rag rug.

Repeat this process with your strips of material, either making fresh holes each time, or by using the second hole from the previous piece of material, until your rug is complete.

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Wartime Recipes

Use some of these recipes and experience the taste of a wartime picnic or party

Sandwiches Typical sandwiches were:

Jam and mock lemon curd Mock banana (made with boiled parsnips, banana essence and sugar) Cheese and carrot (with a little mayonnaise) Egg (blended with margarine and served on home-grown lettuce) Potted meat Fish paste Home-grown tomato and lettuce Pilchard and cucumber Spam Marmite

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Mock Lemon Curd

Ingredients: 1 teaspoon corn flour 4 tablespoons lemon squash 1oz (25g) margarine 1oz (25g) sugar Pinch of tartaric acid or citric acid

Method Blend the corn flour with the lemon squash and add 3 tablespoons of cold water.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add the margarine, sugar and a pinch of tartaric or citric acid. Stir over low heat until mixture thickens and becomes clear. This takes about 10 minutes.

Remove curd from the heat and allow it to cool. Stir occasionally to prevent a skin forming.

Fish Paste

Ingredients: 6oz (170g) cooked salted cod 4oz (115g) cooked and mashed potato 2oz (55g) margarine (softened) 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce Pepper

Method Flake the fish using a fork. Beat the potatoes into the fish until a smooth paste is formed. Beat in the margarine, Worcestershire sauce and pepper.

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Carrot Fudge

Ingredients: 1 or 2 carrots 1 leaf of gelatine Orange essence/grated orange rind or orange squash

Method: Peel the carrots. Finely grate them and measure out four tablespoons into a saucepan, pour in enough water to cover the carrots and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add flavouring (orange essence, rind or squash)

Melt a leaf of gelatine and add to the mixture and cook quickly for two minutes stirring all the time. Pour into a small dish with 1 inch sides. Leave to set. Cut into cubes when completely cool.

Wartime Trifle

Ingredients: 1 small homemade cupcake or bun per person (fresh or stale) Your choice of fruit juice/cooked fruit or very thin apple sauce Thin custard

Method: Cut the cakes into slices and put in the trifle dish.

Heat the fruit juice (cooked fruit or apple sauce) and pour over the cake making sure that the cake is thoroughly soaked.

Heat the custard and pour over the mixture. Top with a little fresh fruit for decoration if available.

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Games Children Played

Boxes

Number of players: 2

You will need a piece of paper. Remember paper was in short supply during the war so try to find a piece of paper that has already been used. A good example would be an envelope that has already been used once to send a letter. Do not throw it away; use it to play this game.

Aim: To form more boxes than your opponent.

How to play: Take a pencil and mark the paper with lines of dots. The gaps between the dots should all be equal. Repeat this line of dots underneath the first line. As well as the gaps between the dots across the page being the same, they should also be the same between the rows. Repeat until you have made a chart of at least ten rows and ten columns.

The first player draws a line to join up two dots. The second player draws a line to join up two dots. To score, a player must be the person that creates a box by drawing in the fourth side of the box. The initial of the player who manages to make a box is written inside that box.

Players also need to try and prevent their opponent from completing the boxes.

The winner is the player who has made most boxes when all the available dots have been used.

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Jacks

Number of players: 2-6

You will need ten jacks and one small ball. Alternatively you could use small stones or even small pieces of coal instead of jacks.

Aim: To pick up the highest designated number of jacks.

How to play: The game is played outside or inside on a smooth surface on the floor.

Two players sit facing each other. For more than two players they sit in a circle. To decide who is to go first they, in turn, throw all the jacks in the air and try to catch as many as possible with both hands. Whoever catches the most jacks goes first.

Each player, in turn, gathers all the jacks in one hand. The player gives them a gentle shake and scatters them on the ground inside the playing space. The player then throws the ball gently into the air and attempts to pick up the designated number of jacks with one hand as well as catch the ball on the first bounce using the same hand. It starts with one jack at a time (onesies), then two jacks (twosies) and continues increasing until the player fails to pick up the designated number of jacks. The player will continue from that number at her next turn. Then the next player goes, and the game continues until someone succeeds at picking up the ball and all of the jacks at once on a single bounce.

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Battleships

Number of players: 2

Each player will need a grid (see opposite). The top grid is for your own fleet (My Ships) and the bottom grid is where you try to locate the other player’s fleet (Enemy Ships). Each player needs a pencil.

Aim: To sink the fleet of your opponent.

How to play: Each player decides where to place the fleet on their grid. A fleet is made up of one Aircraft Carrier, one Battleship, one Cruiser, two Destroyers and two Submarines. Each type of ship covers a different number of boxes in the grid, as shown, and is drawn vertically or horizontally – not diagonally. More than one ship cannot occupy the same square.

To place a ship, check how many boxes are covered by the ship (shown on the left of your grid) and then write the first letter of the name of the ship in the box it covers. For example, a Cruiser covers three boxes so pick any three boxes that are next to each other and put in the letter C in each box. When each player has marked their fleet on the grid, play can begin.

Take turns to ‘shoot’ at your opponent’s fleet by calling out the number of a certain box by its grid location. For example by calling out “B-4” or “D-3”. Your opponent must say whether the shot is a ‘miss’ or a ‘hit’ and, if it is a ‘hit’, what type of ship it is. You can record what you have successfully shot on your lower grid and the ships you have sunk by crossing off the ships at the bottom right of your sheet. Play continues until one player wins by successfully sinking the whole of the other player’s fleet.

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My Ships:

A Aircraft Carrier

B A A A A A

C Battleship

D B B B B

E Cruiser

F C C C

G Destroyers

H D D D D

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Submarines

S S

Enemy Ships:

A Aircraft Carrier

B A A A A A

C Battleship

D B B B B

E Cruiser

F C C C

G Destroyers

H D D D D

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Submarines

S S

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Hopscotch

Number of players: 2-4

Prepare a hopscotch grid on the ground using chalk or tape. Each square is numbered, and can be in any combination of single or double squares. Grids can have as few as 5 or 6 squares or as many as 10 or 12.

Each player must have a marker, usually a small stone.

Aim: To go through the court without falling over, missing a square or using the wrong foot for the square.

How to play: The first player throws her marker into the first square (no.1). It must land within the square. If it does not land on the correct square or lands on the line, they will miss their turn.

If the marker lands successfully the player has to hop through the grid. They hop over the square that contains their marker. They continue to hop to the end of the grid and back again, remembering to bend down and pick up their marker and hop onto the cleared square on the return route.

They throw their marker into the next square (no. 2) and so the game continues.

As each person takes their turn they leave their marker on the square in which they must attempt to land on their next go as a reminder.

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6 7

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3 4

2

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Skipping Songs

Skipping has always been a popular pastime for children. They would often skip to popular chants and rhymes. Two people would hold each end of a long skipping rope and swing it. The third person would enter the skipping area and start to skip to the rhythm of a popular song. All three participants would chant the rhyme to mark out the speed of the skipping. Perhaps you would like to try some skipping songs from the 1940s.

Not last night but the night before

Three Tom cats came knocking at my door

One had a fiddle

One had a drum

And one had a pancake stuck to his bum

When the war is over, Hitler will be dead

He hopes to go to heaven with a halo on his head

But the Lord said, “No! You’ll have to go below

There’s only room for Churchill so cheeri, cheeri-oh!”

Because of the pail, the scraps were saved

Because of the scraps, the pigs were saved,

Because of the pigs, the rations were saved

Because of the rations, the ships were saved,

Because of the ships, the Island was saved

Because of the island, the Empire was saved

And all because of the housewife’s pail!

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Songs and Music

During the War, people often used songs and music to keep their spirits up and to keep themselves entertained.

See if you can find songs or pieces of music by singers and artists such as these:

Vera Lynn: We’ll Meet Again The White Cliffs of Dover

Glenn Miller: Chatanooga Choo Choo

Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen: Run Rabbit Run

George Formby: Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major

The Andrews Sisters Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy

Can you find other music from the same time?

Can you tell what message the music or words from the song are saying?

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Further Reading

Fiction:

William and the Evacuees Richmal Crompton Macmillan

Goodnight Mr Tom Michelle Magorian Puffin

Carrie’s War Nina Bawden Puffin

A World in Flames Neil Tongue Macmillan

Fireweed Jill Paton Walsh Puffin

Blitz Robert Westall Collins

Non-fiction:

Evacuation Stewart Ross Evans

The Home Front – Fiona Reynoldson Hodder & Wayland 1939-1945 Evacuation

Daily Life in a Wartime House Laura Wilson Hamlyn

Websites:

http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/wwar.htm

www.learningcurve.gov.uk/homefront/default.htm

www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/index.shtml

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National Coal Mining Museum for England Trust Ltd.

Caphouse Colliery, New Road, Overton, Wakefield, WF4 4RH