A group of pupils from Millom School are to accompany Second World War veterans from Barrow on a special visit to the Imperial War Museum in Manchester tomorrow (27 March).
The visit is the culmination of a special project called Moving Minds which has been helping to uncover some of the hidden histories of the Second World War from different regional and cultural perspectives.
The Moving Minds project has been organised in Cumbria by the county council's Archives Service with support from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Imperial War Museum North.
As part of their work for the project, eight students interviewed a 10 people from Barrow who lived during the Second World War and broadcast their work on Radiowaves, a national network of internet radio stations run by students.
The group of veterans, who Age Concern helped the school get in get contact with, included service people and civilians from the town. The veterans explained what it was like to live with rationing, the separation from loved ones posted overseas and the regular bombings of the Barrow shipyards.
Tomorrow's event in Manchester will see the Cumbrian delegation joining similar groups from across the North West who are coming together to discuss their work and the personal stories they have uncovered.
Councillor Roger Bingham, cabinet member responsible for Cumbria's Archives Service, said: "This project has provided a fascinating insight into what it was like to live in Cumbria during the Second World War.
"As well as helping to bring history to life for these pupils, the project has also given some of our veterans the chance to relive their experiences from those momentous times.
"Tomorrow's event is a marvelous opportunity for those involved to meet young people and veterans from across the region, all of whom have their own unique stories to tell."
ENDS
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