Following the recent success of BBC Wales’ ‘Coalhouse’ series, where three families, four Bevin Boys and a group of evacuees had to learn to adapt to life in World War II Blaenavon, how about discovering the memories of those who really remember what it was like?
The series saw them learning to cope with rationing, blackouts and the fear of air-raids, and pulling together to work as a community and thanks to two exciting projects run by Culturenet, you can compare their experiences with real life recollections of the period.

Their Past Your Future and From Warfare to Welfare tell the stories of individuals who experienced the 1940s and 1950s.

From Warfare to Welfare brings veterans and eyewitnesses of the period between 1939 and 1959 together with school pupils to create digital stories.
These 2-3 minute films, put together by the school pupils, combine still images with the memories and recollections of the older generation in an innovative way which helps increase their understanding of the past.

The contents of these two websites can be used as interesting and exciting educational resources, providing pupils with an insight into the lives of their parents, grand-parents and great-grandparents. Culturenet’s Educational team are also working on resources relating to the five project themes: War and Conflict, Commemoration and Reconciliation, Leisure and New Technology, Work and Employment and Politics and Society. All educational resources will be available to download in the coming months.

Their Past Your Future commemorates WW2 through the memories of those who lived through it. Not only is the website a lasting tribute to those who lived through the period but it is also a valuable learning resource for future generations.

If you want to know what life was really like during the Second World War, visit From Warfare to Welfare and Their Past Your Future

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.