Schools' Day 17th July

Back in 2008, Show Organiser Rex Cadman bumped into Kent County Council's then Cabinet Member for Education, Mark Dance. After discovering a mutual love of the great British breakfast, they went on to meet on several occasions, during which time Rex learned more about the field of education and Mark the War and Peace Show.

With an increasing family atmosphere, more and more parents had been taking their children out of school early to participate in the War and Peace Show, confident in the knowledge of its educational benefits. However with his new understanding of the educational system, Rex swiftly realised that he could provide real benefit to school pupils in an important area of the curriculum. In one single location pupils could learn in a very visual and interactive way the history of British conflict from WW1 to the present day.

With this new idea formulating, Rex chatted it through with Mark who then introduced him to two of his colleagues, Sue Dunn, Head of Skills and Employability and Trinie Parsons, Operations and Performance Manager for Skills and Employability, and with their encouragement, support and assistance the Schools' Day became a reality.

Of the Schools Day idea from Rex, John Cubitt current deputy member for Education Learning and Skills says: "I am very pleased that the Skills and Employability Team have been able to support this event. Providing alternative curriculum activities within both Primary and Secondary education helps to engage the enthusiasm of young people, and develop their transferable skills, which is so important to making the successful transition from school to the world of work."

With launch year now set for 2010, Rex spoke with friends and acquaintances involved in education – including foremost WW1 historian, author and curator of the Royal Logistics Corps Museum, Andy Robertshaw and his colleague, David Kenyon. The first Schools' Day would coincide with the anniversaries of the Battle of Britain, Dunkirk and The Blitz, so these became the core themes, with the additions of the story behind WW1 and the Home Guard – under the guise of TV favourite, Dad's Army!

For the Battle of Britain anniversary feature, Rex then commissioned a beautiful full-sized replica of a Hawker Hurricane, while sets to portray both the Army and Navy involvement in Dunkirk were built. The Army area featured a pile of rubble with abandoned British vehicles, furniture and house contents to give realism, with the Navy element represented by a "capsized" boat lying over on its keel! Over on the Home Guard section, pupils took part in the Tank Training - "hand grenading" an old horse drawn carriage with fir cones!

As plans were built, there was an incredible amount of enthusiasm among both those involved and other exhibitors as word got out. "Everyone could clearly see the benefits and were excited to be part of it", says Rex: "which drove it forwards and gave an amazing momentum".

The first annual War and Peace Show Schools' Day was held on the Tuesday before the Show opened, originally intended to give the pupils a separate experience. However evaluating later it was decided that as many exhibitors were still setting up, there were too many potential Health and Safety risks for it to continue before the Show officially opened. So the decision was taken that if the Schools' Day was to become a regular feature of The War and Peace Show it would have to be on the first day.

Following feedback from schools, Mark Dance and a fellow colleague of his, Leyland Ridings – plus the motor vehicle enthusiasts themselves - everyone deemed the idea to be a great success and felt it was something that should be continued. Comments from schools included: "This was a great opportunity to provide access to a level of education that children would not normally receive" and: "children can come along and get hands on access to a real part of our history".

2012 saw the third Schools' Day and the experiences offered to pupils continued to build. The activities covered every period from WW1 with the tank used in the Spielberg film Warhorse on loan from The Tank Museum, The Battle of Britain, Vietnam, the Falklands and even a reconstruction of the current Camp Bastion built from burlap actually used out in Afghanistan. In between was a Tower of London Warder, the opportunity to talk to WW2 veterans, plus a demonstration of how the housewife of the Second World War coped with rationing to create interesting meals - despite desperate shortages; did you know they made Easter eggs out of mashed potato and cocoa?! Both the Veterans Marquee and the Britain at War Victory Marquee featured 1940s entertainments, dancing and fashions so the children could see how their grandparents kept themselves entertained during the dark days of the War.

New for 2012 was a more structured plan with a Schools' Day map showing locations for dedicated activities. After visiting each event, the school children had their maps signed – and with a minimum of ten signatures were presented with a War and Peace Show Schools' Day certificate!

As Mark Dance, now cabinet member for Regeneration and Economic Development at Kent County Council said: "Reading something in a text book is one thing. But standing next to a huge piece of military hardware like a tank, or sitting round a map and hearing about events that actually happened from someone who was there, really brings history to life.

"Many of the hundreds of young people who have attended the War and Peace Show Schools' Days will remember this experience for the rest of their lives."

2013 sees War and Peace relocated to an exciting new site at Folkestone Racecourse, re-branding to The War and Peace Revival in the process.  The new location gives more space and the opportunity to start afresh with a new layout.  War and Peace still comprises military vehicles, living history, veterans, battle re-enactments and Arena events, military models, wartime and vintage entertainment and trade stands. The newest segment to War and Peace is Home Front, with re-enactors providing professional and informative displays and demonstrations on how British civilians coped with everyday life during WW2. The former horse boxes by the parade ring in the Vintage Village will house an Evacuee journey from town to life in the countryside, with the vet, farmer and his livestock and the Land Army!

Inside the Home Front Marquee, Jude Knight will be giving demonstrations on cooking with wartime rations as her colleagues from the wartime W.I. preserve a glut of fruit by jam making and canning. There will also be displays of wartime shops and wartime house interiors with a Dig for Victory and Anderson shelter display – and visitors can learn how to wash and mend their clothes to make them last longer!

The Wartime Post Office is represented in the marquee and visitors can have a go at making rope, an industry so important to our wartime Navy.

The difficulties of shopping and shortages will be illustrated by shop displays and the wartime pub, while a bombed out family will be on hand to talk about what they did when their home was damaged and the support they received from the ARP, ambulance  and Fire Service.

At War and Peace this year we've expanded to cover the decades 1930 – 1960 so we can include civilian life and music relevant to our two 2013 anniversaries: 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War and the 50th anniversary of National Service. On Saturday 20 July we will be having a Veterans' Parade and Service of Commemoration. Also in the Vintage Village you will find classic cars from the same period of all different marques.

Our Living History area is larger than we had at Paddock Wood – and yes we will still have digging-in areas – just not on the racecourse! Once again we are looking forward to realistic re-enactments in our Arena depicting units from a wide variety of nationalities. We will also have a Guinness Book of Records attempt at the largest number of Jeeps on the Saturday – don't miss that it should be a spectacular sight!

One of the other changes we've implemented is bringing the Veterans Marquee and Victory Marquee together under one roof into the renamed V Marquee. Now you can drop into the one venue and meet veterans, watch the vintage entertainment, chat to authors and even sit in on the fashion show.  One lucky member of the fashion show audience will be picked each day to win a vintage make-over! We're delighted that the cast of Allo Allo will be returning to War and Peace and will be located in an area of the V Marquee.

Folkestone Racecourse has some superb permanent facilities - on the ground floor of The Victorian Grandstand is a 100-seater restaurant called The Victorian Bar and Grill at The Officers' Mess. In the Main Grandstand is The Battle of Britain Carvery - a 250-seater restaurant and bar and again spectacular views to the front with the vehicle displays, Living History and Arena, while upstairs are several Hospitality Boxes.

We still have our hundreds of trade stands and this year have introduced a Vintage Market Place dedicated to traders with vintage and retro clothes, homewares and memorabilia giving a more convenient destination for those interested in the civilian side of our show.

There really is so much going on at War and Peace that the only way to see it is to come along! Folkestone Racecourse is incredibly simple to get to – our public car parking is literally seconds off J11 of the M20.  Westenhanger mainline station is 400 feet away and the High Speed train will be stopping just for us on the Saturday and Sunday of War and Peace!

To register your school party for Schools' Day on Wednesday 17 July 2013, please complete and return the Booking Form to [email protected] by Thursday 11 July. Schools' Day is free to all Kent schools or £3 per pupil for schools outside of Kent.