Link Back to the 1940s was a great success with 100 people coming through the door of the Methodist chapel to see what it was all about.
We had a 1940s school room in the entrance, complete with desk and slates and a dvd of life as a child in the 40′s with clothes to try on and games to play…..
In the chapel we had displays on School, living, sport, faith, farming, fashion and the forces.
Many photographs, articles and memorabilia, from gas masks to telephones to a ewbank cleaner to a set of old bowling woods and many old archives from the decade…the school admission register, the school log. The bowls club minutes, the methodist chapel trustees minutes, PCC minutes and many more.
We had some fantastic conversations with people throughout the day as they looked at the old photographs and documents, one special moment was when one lady read a letter dated from 1937 and she suddenly realised it was about herself, from the headmaster to her Mother, and she had never seen it before!!
The documents had come from the treasure house in Beverley. Mike and myself had spent 4 hours one morning / afternoon photogaphing 180 pages from the different archives. They all then had to be cropped, printed and placed in large files for viewing.
In the chapel we also had video interviews on a big screen of local peoples memories from the ’40s. This proved very popular as people just sat in the pews listening to the tales from the ’40s……a local farmer complaining that the children employed to help with potato picking got too much money and messed about throwing the potatoes at each other…….one of the “children” complaining that they didn’t get paid much money potato picking, so they used to throw “spuds” at each other!!
The interviews gave a fantastic insight into life back in the 1940′s.Mike and Don had spent many hours interviewing people and then the editing process began, many, many, many hours of careful editing work by Mike. The finished article was a very professional and excellent DVD which we do hope we will be able to post on the site at some point.
In the chapel hall we had our area on cooking and food from the ’40s where you could sample the delights of mock apricot flan, dripping cake and eggless fruitcake. plus many articles on food.
The back wall was transformed into a very large map of the village from 1937 with 70 or so photograhs of houses from the decade to try and identify.
Our tearoom was a great success with many cakes and buns and gallons of tea and coffee…………plus 50 newspapers from the war to period to browse whilst having a cuppa…..
We all enjoyed dressing up in 1940′s clothes. I had a spivs suit on, Sue had a lovely tweed suit and played the role of a school teacher, Alison was a 40′s housewife, Don became a local 40′s farm labourer and Jayne was our resident American moll!! All in all a fantastic day and £50 raised for the Red Cross.
Watch this space as our photographs will be uploaded soon onto the multimedia section of the site to give you a feel for the day.
Do you have photos, objects or memories of life in Brandesburton in the 1940s?
Would you like to see and hear how it was?
Come and join us on the day, or contact Jayne, on 543335
Saturday 21st May 2011
Brandesburton Methodist Hall
11:00am-4:00pm Interactive exhibits and Tea Room
7:30pm-9:00pm “Show and Tell” memory sharing
Thank you for your interest in being a part of what we hope will be a fun day for the whole village community. We hope to make the exhibition as interesting and engaging as possible, including:
Photo wall: Giant scale map of the village, for people to attach (scanned copies of) photos taken in the 1940s;
Talking Heads video loop: edited interviews of local memories from local people;
Forties Tea Room: offering tea, coffee and juice, plus cakes that might have been familiar in the Forties.
In addition, we’d like to show a number of displays covering aspects of village life:
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Farming in the Forties
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School in the Forties
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Faith in the Forties
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The Sporty Forties
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The Forces in the Forties
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Food in the Forties
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Local Business in the Forties
We hope that some people will wear clothes that might have been seen in the 1940s, to add to the atmosphere, although we won’t insist!
If you are able to help make this day go with a swing, either by organising a display, helping on the day, or volunteering to be interviewed before the event for the video loop, we would be delighted to have you on board.
If you’d like more information, or to discuss things further, please contact me on the number below, or speak to the person who gave you this leaflet. The secret of success will be to have as many people as possible taking part in the day, so please spread the word.
Many thanks,
Jayne Bickerton
Telephone: 01964 543335
