Pupils from a Newtown primary school have invaded the town’s library.
The 90 pupils from Penygloddfa Primary School were at the library in Park Street over three days to work on a wartime topic.
They banded together in groups and got involved in researching historical material that documented local aspects of World War Two.
The visits were planned around three activities including a quiz, use of the microfilms and a discussion table that included books and items from a memory box that came from Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery.
“Having an invasion of Penygloddfa Primary School was the perfect way of sharing our local resources,” said Assistant Branch Librarian Kate McCaffery, who planned the activities.
“By using all the resources, it brought World War Two to life for the 90 pupils. The enthusiasm and interest of the children created a wonderful buzz in the library over the week.”
The quiz for the first group focussed on a local man who attended Penygloddfa primary school as a child, but was sadly killed during the war. Newspaper articles were used along with reproduced clippings from the Cenotaph book, along with a 1941 map of Newtown.
The library set a quiz asking them to find out information and identify where they happened on the map.
“The second group used an edition of the Newtonian Journal which reported on personal accounts of evacuees who came to Newtown,” said Trish Thomas, Powys County Council’s Reader Development Librarian.
“The accounts were made by children who were the same age as the pupils. Many found they empathised with the evacuees and their plight as they were sent away from their families to live with strangers for the first time.”
Pupil’s researched clippings taken from the article and were asked to find answers to questions. They also had to use a local map from the war, a Microfilm reader with newspaper accounts from the beginning and end of the conflict. At the end of the session children were asked to link their answers to a huge map on display.
Cllr Graham Brown, Powys County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Library Services, said: “We know there is a need in schools to explore information literacy and libraries are a great place to do this by using their local history resources.
“It helps pupils with the way they do research - gathering evidence that they can use to back up their work or lead them to more information. The library staff are great facilitators and the pupils really enjoyed this approach.”
Photo: Two pupils from Penygloddfa Primary School enjoying the research by wearing the hat and gasmask from the memory box from Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery.
