Today Gemma and Julia, who work at Bowes Museum, came to work with us and teach us about World War 1.
First of all they showed us a picture of Bowes Museum. At first we thought it was a castle as it was very big and grand. Then the ladies let us look at a picture of John Bowes and his wife, who built the museum a long time ago.
After that they read us a story about a boy who went to war and really missed his family. Some of use were able to try on the uniform that our British soldiers would have worn. One child said the coat felt, “Heavy!” Another said that the hat was,”Soft!”
We learned that all the soldiers received a ‘Princess Mary Box’ for Christmas which was filled with special treats for the soldiers. We all made our own special box, decorating them beautifully and thinking about the treats we would like to put inside.
Finally we learned about the ‘Sweetheart cushions’. We found out that if soldiers were injured in the war they often made a cushion to send home to their wives while they were recuperating in hospital. We looked at an example of a very beautiful sweetheart cushion which was 100 years old. Then we tried to make our own by carefully sewing two circles of felt together and adding the stuffing. This was tricky but with a little help from our teachers we were all able to complete them.
