War audio drama to be unveiled at listening post

Musical director Kathie Prince recorded with pupils from St John's Primary School in Weymouth

A solar-powered listening post where visitors can hear radio extracts about childhood during World War Two is set to be unveiled.

Children from four Dorset schools have written and recorded an eight-part audio drama inspired by the true stories of local people who lived through the war.

Called Children of World War Two and launched in May, it has been listened to more than 3,000 times.

The young writers and actors behind it will join harbourmaster Ed Carter to officially open the listening post at Weymouth Quayside in Dorset.

Project co-director Alastair Nisbet from arts organisation ScreenPLAY said local people in their 90s had provided material for the dramas.

Since the beginning of the school year, pupils aged 11-13 have worked together on the project, which is funded by Dorset Council and the Heritage Lottery.

They are from St John's Primary, St Nicholas Primary Weymouth, St Mary's Middle School at Puddletown and Bovington Primary Academy.

Children from Bovington Primary Academy acted in a mock World War Two classroom at Nothe Fort

Each episode covers the lives of families in Weymouth, Puddletown, Wool, Lulworth and the Tyneham Valley from the summer of 1940 to 1944.

Mr Nisbet said: "The children have worked with our scriptwriters and drama directors and turned true stories from local people into short dramas complete with the music and songs of the day.

"We wanted to capture stories from the home front through the eyes of children while there was still a link with the war years, and retell them with today's generation."

Pupils from St Nicholas and St Lawrence's Primary School at Weymouth in the Anderson shelter

Co-director Sharon Hayden said the dramas focused on lesser known stories from the Dorset home front.

She said: "Our characters come face to face with evacuated French soldiers, Italian prisoners of war, an unexploded incendiary bomb at Chapelhay as well as the daily problems of shopping and cooking tea.

"There's sadness when a family member has to clear her home and farm to make way for the American Army in the depths of a freezing winter.

"As well as delight when a boy reveals how to get into the pictures for free to see the latest Sherlock Holmes film."

Both the original oral histories and the children's dramas will become part of the county's archive at Dorset History Centre.