Line Up the Recruits!

We are huge fans of the Black Watch Museum’s family days here at Small City so when we heard about their fun event for Festival of Museums open day, I was straight on the phone to my nieces inviting them out for a day of WW1 recruitment.

The Festival of Museums is an annual event co-ordinated by Museums Galleries Scotland to showcase Scotland’s cultural offering; it includes everything from historical re-enactments and night time murder mysteries to children’s story telling and arts and crafts.  

We arrived on a glorious sunny day to be greeted by the drill sergeant who was taking names,allocating soldier numbers and handing out recruitment packs. Everyone on the front concourse was dressed in military garb and the girls tried extremely hard to stifle their giggles all the way through learning their drills from the loud, shouty sergeant. Hilariously, the idea that only boys were allowed to sign up for the front line in WW1 just wasn’t going to wash with my nieces and role play that suggested they’d be better as nurses was met with looks of shock and horror.

This is one of the reasons I love this type of event; when do you sit girls down and explain that the life they lead now, of equality and choice wasn’t always the way. After they were dismissed for disobedience and refusal to adopt the names Harry and Jim (rather than Holly and Jenna!) we headed to the dressing up zone and chatted about why women like my Nana just wouldn’t have had the choices they do. It’s a great opportunity for them to learn without any need to sit round a table and make a serious issue out of it.

Into the museum, and although we’ve been here many times before, focusing the minds of young children to take it all in is no mean feat. The idea that you can come a few times and learn bite sized snippets of the Black Watch history while playing and exploring is a wonderful gift to have right on your doorstep. Many people in Perth will have a connection to the Black Watch and for us, that connection is my Grandad.

He fought with the 51st Highlander Regiment in WW2 and was among the men captured in France. He served four years as a Prisoner of War and as we wandered through the exhibits, taking solider selfies and finding the items listed on their sheets, the stories he had told me as a wee girl were passed onto the next generation. We found the crest he had proudly worn on his blazer, and the details on the capture of his regiment right there on the wall. The girls asked me endless questions and wanted to know more about their Great Grandad and Great Nana (a WAF) and the part they played in the war.

Of course, the focus of the day was on WW1 and discovering stories about George Rose, the high ranking black soldier was only one of the highlights. They also made photo frames for their nurse and soldier photographs and triumphantly guessed the word FRANCE after finding their letters dotted throughout the museum.

We decided a coffee and a cake would be an ideal stop before heading to the park and over babycinnos and shortbread they chatted enthusiastically about what they’ve done to help in the war (let me tell you feminism is alive and well in my nieces!) and how they’d have distracted the German soldiers to rescue their Great Grandad!

This was another fantastic day at the Black Watch Museum and I am certain it won’t be our last. Well done to all involved.