Our Treasures
Memories are important and those special items kept from the wartime years can often help stimulate them. Most people had some treasures to share that reminded them of not only the harsh wartime years but also the comradeship and sharing. Memories events were enhanced by those hidden treasures that helped us all understand more about those difficult times, how people met the challenges they faced and exactly what meant most to them.
Thankyou for sharing them with us. Some of the items in the slideshow have been donated to the museum collection.
General Ration Book issued in 1940
Inside of Ration Book showing registered retailers
Emergency Ration Card with some coupons removed
Regular Unemployment Book issued to Annie Tuppenney in 1939-40
Insurance stamp card with stamps to the value of 1s 4d attached. Issued in 1940
Disabled person's registration card
1940 letter informing Mrs Tuppenney that her husband had been wounded
Pass issued to Mrs Tuppenney to visit her husband at Preston Hall Hospital for a month
Ration Book and Clothing ration book (red)
Wartime identity cards for an adult and under 16
Royal Air Force Cigarette Card Book
Cigarette Cards. Boys learnt to recognise planes by their shape and sound at school
One of many popular wartime booklets on Making and Mending
All sorts of ways were devised to keep people interested in 'Make do and Mend'
Sewing tips - how to re-foot a sock
A treasured wartime photograph
A treasured wartime photograph. Troops make their own amusement
Every scrap of waste paper was saved for the war effort
Information card. A chart of war gases
A sheet of petrol ration coupons
A book of farmcraft assisted Land Girls and those unused to correct farming practices
How to milk a cow. A wartime farmcraft book
A Civil Defence Corps Armband
Daily Telegraph Invasion Map, one of many produced by daily papers. This one cost one shilling (5p)
Air Raid Precautions Manual
Air Raid Precaution Sealing Tape cost 6d a tin. An X of tape on a window pane stopped glass splinters
Celebrating the end of the war. Bunting from a street party
A baby's cumbersone gas mask suit
Special issue spectacles issued to a member of the Home Guard
Wartime needlework classes were encouraged. This drawn thread tablecloth was made by Lily Garrett of Thornford
A child's gas mask and carrying case
Sherborne Civil Defence Blouson close-up
Wardens tin helmet and Sherborne Civil Defence Blouson
