Forty “evacuees” from CROESGOCH Primary School visited the Second World War airfield at Carew Cheriton as part of their day in the life of a 1939 schoolchild.
With name labels pinned to their 1930’s style clothes and cardboard gas mask boxes strung around their necks the 9 to 11 year olds learnt of the part Pembrokeshire, and in particular Carew Cheriton played, in countering the threat of German U-boats to Allied shipping in both World Wars.
The “evacuees” had already learnt about rationing shortly after setting off in the morning when they had their “ration cards” marked after buying sweets in Fishguard with pre-decimal pennies for their railway journey to Whitland.
To further illustrate what wartime Britain was like the children ate Spam, jam and cheese sandwiches for lunch and were only allowed to play the type of games their grand parents and great grand parents might have played themselves.
While at Carew Cheriton Control Tower some of the “evacuees” got to dress up as aircrew or airfield guards before they all huddled together in the museum’s authentic air-raid shelter to sing wartime songs such as “Lilli Marlene” and “We’ll Meet Again”.
John Brock MBE, President of Carew Cheriton Control Tower Group, told the children he was just 13 when war broke out and he well remembered the Royal Air Force re-opening the air-base and having to carry his gas mask box wherever he went.
After the visit John said, “It’s tremendous to see how much the kids enjoy their visit to the Control Tower. It’s so important that that future generations can learn more about the lives of their grandparents and great grandparents. The teachers seem to get a lot out of it too and shows that learning can be fun.”