A fantastic Remembrance Day event

Date: 11/11/2011

It is Get Remembering Day and the NSMW Tour has been to Alma Park Primary School in Manchester.  This is the last day of the NSMW Tour but it is possibly the most important as we ask the young people to remember and think about people that have been killed or injured in war.  School meals for all came into effect in the Education Act of 1944.  This was at a time in the war when many young people were malnourished and so their school meal was a vital part of the school day.

As we move on nearly seventy years we find school meals still at the heart of the school day but this time fighting to reduce obesity and encourage pupils to have a healthy and nutritious school meal so they can learn more in afternoon lessons.

At Alma Park School we had a whole school assembly where Arnold Fewell used the NSMW presentation for a talk to the children.  He showed them the video of Simon Weston that was recorded in Cardiff and gave out spot prizes of NSMW mugs for those pupils that got the questions right.  After the assembly it was play time and this gave Philippa James the chance to set up her presentation about the 1940's

A cameraman from Lancashire Life arrived to take pictures and this included all the teachers that had dressed up for the day. We had land girls, a pilot, doctor, warden and Mrs Mopp the cleaner.  Everyone had really entered into the spirit of the day.  One child had dressed up as an evacuee with a label showing who she was and where she came from.

When the children returned it was time for the two minutes silence.  This was perfectly observed by the teachers and pupils alike.  Immediately afterwards about sixty pupils from class three listened to Philippa who showed items like a child's gas mask, a ration book and all the foods that were available during the war.  The pupils had lots of questions but were fascinated to see how small the portion of food a child had to eat was.  Finally Philipa demonstrated how to make drop scones and every child had the chance to try.

The final part of the day was provided by Manchester Fayre. They had decorated the dining room with bunting, Union Jacks, balloons and brightly coloured table cloths.  Music from the 40's was playing and there were jugs of juice, squash, milk and water on the tables.  On the menu was lamb stew and Woolton Pie, this is one of the dishes featured in the NSMW recipe book.  The dining room was set up as a street party as if everyone was celebrating the end of the war. 

Well that was the week that was and NSMW 2011 has come to an end.  It has been a fantastic week with more schools, authorities and foodservice contractors taking part, greater media coverage and hopefully more people staying for a healthy and nutritious school meal.  So our final comment must be a big thank you to all the people that worked so hard to make this year certainly the biggest and possibly the best ever National School Meals Week.