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Leeds pupils' 'wartime lessons'
As a girl Madge Farr often hid in her cellar at night waiting patiently for German bombers to fly over Leeds.
She was only nine-years-old when the Second World War broke out and the cellar in her Hunslet home provided protection for nearly the whole street.
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But Madge's worries did not stop there because her older brother Jack had joined the Army and was later to fight in Normandy – where he was wounded twice.
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The 79-year-old recalled her memories of growing up in wartime Britain alongside a number of war veterans at Crawshaw School, in Pudsey, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the start of the Blitz.
She told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "I used to stand and watch the planes coming over with the searchlights going. As a child it was exciting and you didn't realise the danger."
She said that when the air raid sirens sounded she would dash down to the cellar where there were bunk beds that she would sleep in.
After the raids she recalled seeing the tram lines in Hunslet destroyed and said: "To us it was exciting but to the parents it wasn't.
"We used to be told not to go far away and when we had the big holidays
at school we went to Middleton High School so that people knew where the children were.
"The children today have been very good and listened and asked questions. I think it's important to let them know about what happened."
Children at the school also got the chance to hear from Holocaust survivors and were drilled 1940s style in the school yard by Second World War re-enactment enthusiasts.
Pupil Heather Longbottom, 14, said: "It has been really good listening to them because it gives you that experience that you don't normally get taught.
"It is amazing to find out what it was like back then."
Deputy headteacher Jon Norden added: "For our students it is a living link with the past.
"It is important for them to understand how people were affected by the war and how many served bravely for their country.
"It is great for veterans to meet some of our students and it really
engaged our pupils."
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
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