1. Second World War: Investigate a Wartime Family session pre and post visit resource
Learning Department
IWM London

2. This PowerPoint is designed to help students and teachers learn about the Allpress family, a typical family living through the extraordinary experience of the London Blitz. The PowerPoint identifies the six different Home Front themes in the exhibition. It can be used in conjunction with the Investigate a Wartime Family Teachers’ Guidance Notes.pdf Images and information in this PowerPoint can be used in this format to give a short briefing before the visit to IWM London A Family in Wartime exhibition, the Second World War: Investigate a Wartime Family session or can be used as a resource to make your own learning activities. The red slides contain contextual historical information for teachers. The images in this resource can be freely used for non-commercial use in your classroom subject to the terms of the IWM’s Non Commercial Licence:

3. In the Investigate a Wartime Family session students will work in groups to devise their own enquiry question based on a Home Front theme. Each theme is linked to an artefact and members of the Allpress family.
Preparation for the session should cover these points, in appropriate depth for the age and ability of the students:
Look at the Allpress family tree - discuss how many children there were, the relationships between them (spot the twins) and whether any of the family are still alive
Divide the class into 6 groups and give each group a different worksheet on a Home Front theme e.g. rationing, evacuation. Each group should discuss what they think the artefact is, how it links to their theme and how the family member/s might have used it
Each group should write down possible enquiry questions for their theme. These should be open-ended questions. Please bring these to the museum on your visit.

5. The house at 69 Priory Grove, Stockwell as it looks now
The model of the house

7. Key Facts
Alice Allpress was a housewife and the mother of 10 children
She had to shop each day and this meant queuing at the shops for hours
Many food were rationed and each member of the family had a ration book

9. Railways
Key Facts
William Allpress was a train driver for Southern Railways
He was too old to fight in the Second World War
Driving trains was a very important wartime job and he worked long hours

11. Make Do and Mend Key Facts
Nellie, Eva and
Betty Allpress
Key Facts
Eva, Nellie and Betty Allpress made their own clothes during the Second World War and liked to look smart
Everyone had a clothing ration book
Clothes were re-used and never thrown away

13. Evacuation
Key Facts
John Allpress was evacuated to Wokingham in September 1939
Parents were encouraged to send their children out of London to keep them safe
Each child could only take one small suitcase or bag

14. Parents were encouraged to send their children out of the cities and into the countryside to keep them safe. However, it was their choice. Some children were even evacuated abroad to countries such as the USA and Canada. The Government split the country into three zones, evacuation, neutral and reception. It was called Operation Pied Piper and run by the Ministry of Health. Parents were given a list of items that their children should take. Most children were evacuated with their schools and teachers. John Allpress was evacuated with his school on 1 September 1939, by bus to Wokingham 40 miles away. He did not enjoy being separated from his family and was brought home after a few months. John stayed at home in Stockwell during the Blitz.

15. The Blitz
The Allpress
Family
Key Facts
London was bombed very heavily between September 1940 and May 1941
The Allpress family spent many nights in their Anderson shelter
Bombs fell very close to their house in Stockwell, London

16. The Blitz, the bombing of Britain’s major towns and cities, began in September 1940 and ended in May Many children who had been brought home were re-evacuated. People kept safe by sheltering in Morrison, Anderson and public shelters. In London they also sheltered in the underground. On 16 April 1941 houses opposite the Allpress’s received a direct hit. This made the family decide to leave Stockwell and move further out to Wimbledon. Firebombs could cause a lot of damage, as they were dropped in large numbers. On 29 December 1940, known as the Second Great Fire of London, eight of Wren’s London City churches were destroyed. St Paul’s Cathedral was saved when a firebomb lodged in the dome fell out.

17. Women Helping the War Effort
Nellie, Eva and
Betty Allpress
Key Facts
Nellie, Eva and Betty Allpress all had jobs. Eva worked in a clothes shop, Nellie worked in a bakery and Betty worked in a factory making seats for Lancaster bombers
They also did voluntary (unpaid) war work
They worked very long hours