THE experiences of youngsters during the Second World War were brought to life for a group of local schoolchildren in a series of activities organised by a Taunton charity, the County Gazette reported back in January 2006.

‘Operation Pied Piper’ aimed to link pupils from Bishops Lydeard Primary School with older people in the community who were evacuees during the war.

The project was made possible by a £6,000 grant allocated to the organisation Reminiscence Learning by The Big Lottery Fund.

During the winter term 18 years ago the children took part in regular activities to learn about what it was like to be evacuated during the war, including a visit by evacuee Jean Slattery, who spoke about her experiences, and

the chance to design and create gas masks, boxes and helmets.

For the re-enactment of a typical school day, a 1940s school room was created for lessons, including artefacts from the period.

Children dressed up in clothes from the era, listened to wartime music, learned about rations and played old fashioned playground games.

They were also given a wartime maths lesson by a volunteer acting as the teacher, ‘Mr Catchpole’.

Other events included a visit by a number of vintage vehicles and a wartime cookery lesson.

One of the highlights was a trip aboard a steam train on the West Somerset Railway from Bishops Lydeard Station to Watchet, where the children went through a mock billeting experience and were chosen by exevacuees.

At the end of term pupils took part in a finale street party at the school with bunting and Spam or jam sandwiches, a Punch and Judy show, an old fashioned sweet shop, a wartime artefact quiz and a singalong of wartime songs.

Year Five teacher Phil Griffiths said: “We were able to do so much more with this topic by taking part in this project.

“The work the children produced has been of such a high standard.

"They gained a huge amount out of it — it really helped bring the topic to life.”

Reminiscence Learning therapy trainer/co-ordinator Fiona Mahoney said: “We wanted to work with children and older people for this project, so the Lottery grant really helped us widen our audience.

“It has been a great success.”