Half term at Duxford IWM

THIS June half term (Saturday June 2 to Sunday June 10) Duxford Imperial War Museum be asking you to do your bit for the war effort by joining a 1940s voluntary home front organisation for the day.

Half term at Duxford IWM

All activities run from 11am to 3pm in the Battle of Britain exhibition.

Try your hand at a range of jobs to see which you would choose in order to volunteer to victory.

Find out how to put out those air raid fires with a hands-on demonstration of civil defence fire-fighting equipment.

Join IWM Duxford’s Home Guard and protect the museum from enemy invaders. Meet a member of the museum’s Home Guard, find out more about his role and the equipment he uses to ward off the enemy invasion, then sign up to become a new recruit. Test your aircraft recognition skills by becoming a member of the Observer Corps. With the aid of a range of aircraft identification cards, see if you can correctly recognise the different model aircraft that will be on display in the Battle of Britain exhibition – some will be close enough to see very well, others will be at a challenging distance.

Try on mini-wartime uniforms and see which ones suit you best. See and handle a range of objects from the Second World War home front, from gas masks to incendiary bombs. Practice your make do and mend skills by making your very own Home Guard puppet division out of paper and felt.

Find out what life was like for people liv ing in Britain during the Second World War and the brave voluntary roles they took on to protect the population from enemy attack. ‘The People’s War’ was fought at home and away – which job would you have done?

IWM Duxford is open from 10am to 6pm during June half term. Keep the Home Fires Burning runs from Saturday June 2 to Sunday June 10 inclusive. Activities run from 11am to 3pm daily.

For details call 01223 835000 or visit iwm.org.uk