‘Second World War Stories’ is a new exhibition at the Priest’s House Museum & Garden in Wimborne Minster marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the hostilities. To mark VE Day the museum will be offering free admission on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 May for visitors to see the exhibition.
Visitors to the museum on 9 May, will also be treated to a display of wartime recipes. They will be able to pick up some culinary tips, as they discover how the enterprising housewife prepared meals when faced with the constraints of wartime rationing.
The exhibition, which runs until the 15 August, draws upon the experiences of the local community at this time, using personal stories, objects and uniforms to tell its story. See the kit and personal items of both soldiers in the field and volunteers on the Home Front. Displays range from letters and medals, to helmets and supplies. Understand how people prepared for air raids and what life was like for families in air raid shelters with a reconstructed Anderson shelter.
East Dorset witnessed much wartime activity, from the Fire Watchers and Women’s Land Army on the Home Front to the area’s use in the build up to D-Day and the presence of unfamiliar faces, both allied troops and prisoners of war.
Discover the day-to-day lives of local people as they ‘kept calm and carried on’ during a time of incredible hardship, and hear stories of their childhood adventures, working life and other encounters.
