PONTYPOOL Museum welcomed school pupils to join in their Second World War workshops.

The museum runs its Second World War Homefront workshops every autumn for key stage two pupils from across Wales.

Pupils from Penygarn Primary School, Pontypool, visited the museum on October 14 to take part.

The interactive workshops teach children all about life on the homefront including how evacuees had to leave their families and how rationing impacted on domestic life. The two-hour workshop is led by three staff from the museum who play the part of a mother, father and grandmothe who lived in Pontypool during the war. Staff dress in costumes and the workshops are run from a Second World War-themed living room. Children are also read letters home from soldiers and land girls and get to try on gas masks, 1940s-style costumes, listen to popular music of the day and even get to venture into an Anderson shelter.

The administrator for Pontypool Museum, Sue Allford, said: “These workshops show the children of today what life was really like for their grandparents and great-grandparents that lived through the war. It makes the lives of people from the past more relevant to them and the interactive elements of the workshops mean they have fun while learning.”

The workshops are bookable by schools every Tuesday and Thursday. The museum is currently campaigning to attract 1,000 new members to make up for a £19,000 cash shortfall in its budget. For more information call the museum on 01495 752036.