UK First World War History School Trips & Tours

Students will experience educational, tailor-made workshops in original, restored First World War buildings, which make an ideal learning environment to study the period. Looking at the uniforms and equipment used, there will be plenty of opportunities for students to try on the kit and handle the weapons, all set in five acres of beautiful Suffolk countryside.

Themed Workshops include:

• What was life really like for a soldier in the First World War?
  • Covering social history, as well as military history, this thought-provoking talk covers the social conditions of the time, the reasons for enlisting and the attitudes of typical soldiers throughout the war.
  • Curriculum link - The recruitment and training of combatants, including the introduction of conscription and the development of a professional army.

• Was trench life really just about mud, blood and rats?
  • Using original Trench Routine manuals from our collections, we give an accurate picture of what life was like for soldiers holding a section of Front Line trench at different points throughout the war.
  • Curriculum link - The development of entrenched warfare in the First World War

• How good was the training soldiers received during the First World War?
  • The training of Kitchener’s New Armies in particular is a remarkable story of achievement against the odds, with little experience and huge shortages of everything from accommodation to uniforms, equipment and weapons.

• How did uniforms and equipment develop during the war?
  • Our extensive stock includes all versions of British and Commonwealth uniforms and equipment as well as sets of French and German to compare and contrast.

• Medicine on the British Sector of The Western Front
  • We cover the whole process of casualty evacuation from wounding on the battlefield, through wounds, transportation, through the different treatments at the Regimental Aid Post, Advanced Dressing Station, Casualty Clearing Station and Base Hospital. This also covers the role of women serving as Ambulance Drivers with the FANY and nursing.

• The changing nature of Warfare
  • High Command, looking at the senior officers responsible for the conduct of the war; The Development of Gas Warfare, Communications and Artillery

Other curriculum topics that can be covered at the Great War Huts site include:

• The Second World War
• The Home Front
• The Second Boer War, 1899-1902

A trip to the battlefields can include a moving visit to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery.
Not far away there are CWGC plots in both Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds cemeteries. This offers the opportunity of learning about the origins and the work of the CWGC, as well as learning about the stories of some of those who lie buried in the cemeteries. Some of them died of wounds received on the battlefields and others of much more mundane illnesses and accidents.

Working in collaboration with the Education team at the CWGC, your guide will be able to provide detailed information about those buried at these sites, providing moving stories which help students develop a better understanding of the impact of the First World War.
 

Gain an understanding of trench life at a reconstructed Trench System (originally built for film and television work, and used by productions such as Journey’s End, Private Peaceful and Downton Abbey) –an ideal location to discover key aspects of trench life such as Trench Routine, the life of the Soldier and specific topics such as the evacuation of casualties, all set in the context of a full size trench system and No Man’s Land, overlooked by German trenches on the high ground.