THE REALITIES of wartime Britain have been brought to life for primary children, whose studies revealed their school took in large numbers of evacuees.

While studying the Second World War, staff at Baldersby St James CE Primary School, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, dug out old school registers and discovered that during the 1940s the school of about 30 students took in 121 evacuees from Gateshead.

Now they are hoping to track down some of these evacuees, or families that looked after them, for a wartime event next month.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “We realised there would probably have been evacuees in the area because it was a rural and safe area. But the old registers showed that in 1940, on one day 121 evacuees arrived and the school went from having 30 pupils to having 151.

“We were trying to work out where they put everybody; the school consisted of just one hall then.”

Pupils have been researching life for evacuees and for village children who shared their homes and some of the children’s grandparents have visited the school to talk about war years and rationing.

On June 10 the school will be holding a garden party in its orchard to commemorate D-Day.

Anyone who lived in the area during the war is invited to join them. The school cook will be serving up a nostalgic meal of egg and bacon flan with baked potato and salad, followed by jelly for the children and trifle for the adults.

To make the day even more memorable, the whole school will be dressing in 1940s clothes and listening to the music of the day. To join the celebrations, contact the school on 01765-640277.