Boiled eggs and soldiers - Wartime memories at Stanmer - Brighton & Hove City Council
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Stanmer Park
Teacher Resources
Boiled eggs
and soldiers
Wartime memories
at Stanmer
History, age range 7 to 11.
Cross curricular links:
Literacy, DT and Science*.
Image from the Royal Pavilion Museum
Learning outcomes
I can: WHAT YOU WILL NEED
• use a range of sources – oral, written This is a classroom based activity,
and from living memory, to learn and you will need:
more about important events in the
• whiteboard
local area
• imagine what life was really like in • projector
wartime Stanmer Park from reading • printouts of a range of accounts
other people’s stories
• pictures of Stanmer and other
• apply historical knowledge to create linked locations
a piece of drama set in World War 2
• write an empathetic letter to a relative
about life in wartime Stanmer Park
Boiled eggs and soldiers Wartime memories at Stanmer page 2
Stanmer Park – what’s the story?
Sussex found itself at the forefront
of strategic military operations in
World War 2 due to its proximity
to France and the importance of
its coastal defences.
Canadian soldiers were stationed in
Stanmer during World War 2 and
practised tank manoeuvres and
other military procedures.
The villagers were all relocated.
Brighton was also affected and
the seafront was covered in
barbed wire and mines.
The residents of Stanmer and
the local area remember this
extraordinary time and have
recorded their memories, so that You can visit Stanmer Park and still see
people now can learn about evidence of the wartime occupation there,
that time. with the hard standing for tanks still visible.
How to run the session INTRODUCTION
OR STARTER
Explain the difference between different historical
accounts, oral histories, first-hand accounts, Explain that you’re going to
memories or official documents. Fictional explore Stanmer Park and its rich
accounts can also offer rich entry-points but history during World War 2.
need to be understood as stories. Talk about the importance of
Give children a range of sources – a variety on oral history. Learn about the
each table*. Choose short excerpts and give pupils Canadian soldiers who were
time to read these quietly. Then ask them to share stationed in Stanmer Park*
the one they most enjoyed with the whole class. and show a selection of
wartime images of Brighton
and Stanmer*.
* Visit Stanmer Learning online to find all the
pupil activity sources and weblinks. These pages also
contain further reading and the specific National
Curriculum links for the resource.
Boiled eggs and soldiers Wartime memories at Stanmer page 3
DISCUSSION POINTS Main activity
• Which sources do you think are
the most powerful and why? OPTION 1
• Are there any which are lighthearted Divide the class into groups of 4 to 5 children
or funny? Is this surprising for a and ask them to prepare a short drama or
wartime account? montage of freeze-frames, inspired by the
stories they have read.
• What are the similarities and
differences between these accounts Which characters will they choose
and the Covid pandemic? to take on to tell their short drama?
(e.g. wartime spirit, blitz mentality, What key point do they want to
pulling together, wartime effort, communicate to their audience?
keep the home fires burning,
keep calm and carry on.) The teacher can hot-seat a character
from each group and ask questions about
their story.
HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO
SPARK A CLASS DISCUSSION:
OPTION 2
How do you think you would have Introduce and remind the class about the
felt being a child near Stanmer format of informal letter writing to someone
during World War 2? (Stanmer was you know. For example, date and name and
evacuated during the war itself.) colloquial sign-off – ‘With love from.’
Try to include some wartime English like
Do the drama pieces you have watched ‘Dearest mother’ or ‘Fond regards’.
or the letters you have read seem
believable to you? Pupils use everything they have learnt to
write a letter. This could be to a friend or
What does using a range of sources relative they can’t see because of the war,
tell us about the past? or maybe to their dad who might be
fighting in the trenches.
Why do you think that using first-hand
local sources might tell us more than They should try to remember to use some
reading a history book or watching a of the facts they have learnt but also make
general film about the war? their letter believable. Use a lighthearted
tone and include some everyday stories,
such as collecting firewood or helping the
family at home.
Boiled eggs and soldiers Wartime memories at Stanmer page 4
Adapting the session Homework ideas
FURTHER CREATIVE ACTIVITIES
FOR THOSE THAT NEED MORE SUPPORT
Ask pupils to progress from letter writing and
For lower ability or younger children: generate their own creative response, a video
• use shorter extracts and read these out to the diary, a poem, a short film or a performance.
whole class together before sharing Ask them to include the facts that they have
learned and to make it as believable as they can.
• make sure the language is appropriate and
explore any new vocabulary
RESEARCH
• provide a letter template to scaffold the activity
and ensure the focus is on content not layout Children could build on this activity by doing
• scaffold the drama activity by assigning their own research and seeing if they can find a
different roles and exploring who people are firsthand account.
before they begin. Perhaps they have an older relative who still
remembers life in the past, they could interview
FOR THOSE THAT NEED A CHALLENGE them about their memories. They could also
research their street or school and what it was
7090 Brighton & Hove City Council Communications Team
For higher ability or older children: like during the war.
• list key questions on the board but allow
children to explore the resources themselves COOKERY
• encourage peer discussion Learn about eggs being rationed during the war.
• encourage children to ask difficult questions
about how people would have been affected by Prepare a boiled egg with soldiers from a recipe*
wartime life, fathers being away, families being and imagine how good this would have tasted
separated etc in post-war Britain when you hadn’t eaten an
egg for five years!
• encourage further research from relatives,
historical archives etc Read an account of a wartime cookery lesson
involving a dropped egg.*
• ask a local museum if they have World War 2
artefacts or stories they can share with the class If you want to, make a wartime eggless cake.*
• plan an actual or virtual visit. *Visit Stanmer Learning online to find all the
pupil activity sources and weblinks.
Useful links & further reading • Research the following:
D-Day preparations in Sussex
• Watch an account about letter writing https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/topics/
in World War 2 from the Imperial War topicviews/mystery-photos-of-brighton-and-
Museum hove/mystery_photos_of_brighton_hove-7
https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/ a wartime mystery photo
category/topics/topicwar/stevie_hobbs_ https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/topics/
reminiscences topicviews/mystery-photos-of-brighton-and-
• Visit Stanmer Park to find the tank stand hove/mystery_photos_of_brighton_hove-7
•R
ead these excellent teacher/pupil incredible diary excerpts & photos from
wartime resources Canadian troops stationed across Sussex
https://www. from Canada Regimental Museum Archives
junobeach.org/for- https://qormuseum.org/history/
educators/teacher- timeline-1925-1949/the-second-world-war/war-
resources/ diaries-1942/
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