As part of their World War Two topic, the children of St Oswald’s CE Primary School in Mollington spent the day as evacuees visiting Stockport Air Raid Shelters.

During their visit the pupils experienced what life was really like for children in wartime Britain, they even had a rationed lunch of spam, bread and salt n’ shake crisps.

Opened in 1939, the shelters were the largest purpose-built civilian air raid shelters in the country designed to provide shelter for up to 6,500 people.

The labyrinth of tunnels under part of Stockport town centre provided shelter, and a way of life for families from in and around the town through the dark days of the Blitz.

The children in the air raid shelter