Would the lives of today’s young people be as evocative or interesting as this delightful memoir? Skipping to School: Memories of a Liverpool Girlhood 1937-1948 is the rather long-winded title of a Doris Calder’s childhood and takes readers back to a time that is almost unrecognisable to our England today.
For most children born in the 1930s the Second World War would define their childhood. Watching their fathers leave for service and mothers adapt to life on the home front radically changed their way of life. This is just the experience that Doris had, and those memories she shares with us.
The book provides a startling insight into the life of a child growing in wartime Britain from dealing with rationing to surviving the horrors of the Blitz and bereavement. But there are lighter moments: not least how she and her friends learned slogans of the time like Make Do and Mend’, collected shell caps and made skipping ropes out of parachute cords. Just what would our techno generation make of that?
Published by the History Press, Doris, now retired, tells her own story as well as covering key moments such as the arrival of American soldiers. (ISBN: 9780752491547)
Shooting the Moon is the new work from Strangeface, the Kent-based mask theatre company that will be taking the production on the road. Why is it in Pass it On? Because the play is inspired by the French illusionist and early filmmaker Georges Méliès. Using music, mask, animation and puppetry, Strangeface takes the audience on an exceptional journey through the life, works and times of one of cinema’s most imaginative pioneers. Méliès was a visionary who combined his passion for magic with early motion pictures. The tour kicks off in February and is suitable for schools, groups and colleges from KS3. For more information, visit www.strangeface.co.uk.
Great fun is planned for February half-term at the Imperial War Museum North where children can learn about spies. Called Top Secret: Spies, Disguise and Ways to Hide the programme gives budding super sleuths the chance to take part in free fun inspired by real life stories of wartime bravery and espionage. Highlight for me looks like Spy HQ, where you can create your own secret identity and receive your mission. Ha! Lara Croft, move over. Find out more at iwm.org.uk.