Top 15 Things to Discover at Flambards Britain in the Blitz
Published: 16th May 2023Explore our life-sized replica of a London Street blitzed during World War II as you venture into Britain in the Blitz.
- Over 40 years after World War II ended, the Britain in the Blitz exhibition was unveiled at Flambards.
- Dame Vera Lynn opened the immersive exhibition in 1984.
- Since it opened, thousands of survivors have agreed it is a realistic and sensitive homage to those who managed to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On,’ despite the hardships of war.
- As you explore Britain in the Blitz, bomb sirens wail and the floor literally shakes below your feet.
- Notice how windows would have been blacked-out in preparation for the air raids.
- WVS ladies can be seen providing tea and coffee during the aftermath of bombings.
- The street signs and area codes have been painted out to hide the location in case the enemy landed.
- All the packaging used in shop windows would have been empty, for display purposes only – food was much too precious during war time to waste.
- Most families were encouraged to grow their own food, and cook books were specifically designed to help make meals on basic rations.
- The traditional red telephone box served as a lifeline to the whole community – most ordinary people didn’t have personal telephones.
- Petrol was on permit, strictly to those whose professions or priority businesses depended on transport.
- There were few cars on the road, and those that were crept cautiously through the night with only a slit of light from a specially designed headlight-hood.
- The paper boxes held by the evacuees at the train station contain their gas masks.
- Read the touching original letters from child evacuees writing home from Cornwall.
- All the props and packaging you see around Britain in the Blitz are authentic artefacts collected from around the UK. - Many of the well-known brands that we are familiar with today were around during wartime. How many do you recognise?