1940s week at Manor Farm, Botley, from 31 July 2022 - loads of activities for the kids, including a code-breaking session and reading letters from child-evacuees during wartime. And me, in 1940s clobber -- which I had handily enough already in my closet.
The idea of a spinning wheel + WWII might seem a bit odd, but there was a return to handspinning and handweaving, especially in Scotland, during the War. The same practicality that saw mending and reusing/remaking during Wartime and subsequent rationing.
So if you can out on Sunday the 31st, you got to see me in action in the '1940s house'. A good day to spin up Shetland fleece that I'd carded up a few weeks ago, and to get stuck into some naturally coloured brown Finn I had knocking about.
Not gonna lie, I did switch off the 'radiogram' (a small CD player hidden behind an original radio set) after it spun through the 1940s hits -- six times through of 'Leaning on a Lamppost' and 'When I'm Cleaning Windows' is my quota for any single day.
Quite a few people who came through to watch told stories about their parents' and grandparents' experiences in the 1940s and during the War. My parents were born in 1923 (my father) and 1929 (mother). So I have my father's photos and diaries from when he served in the US Navy during the War, and my mother's experiences as a teenager with three brothers in the various USA services.
My father during his Navy service. He served on a Navy supply ship that was stationed variously in North Africa, Palermo, Naples, and Marseilles.
My mother as a teen during the War. This was in Baltimore, Maryland. The two stars on the window behind here indicate that at that time, two of her brothers were in the military. Her oldest brother was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked, and it was ten days before the family had any information about his whereabouts.
Farm bonus of the day: loads of chick-kittens and their mother Brahmin hen.
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