Year 3 have really enjoyed our local history topic, The Birtley Belgians. We learned that during WWI, Belgian refugees came to work in the National Projectile Factory in Birtley. To house the refugees, a self sufficient village was built in Birtley called Elisabethville. Elisabethville housed the families of the factory workers and had many amenities such as a hospital, schools, shops, a church, theatre and a cemetery. We enjoyed listening to the story of Dr LeDune’s family coming to Birtley and made storyboards and diary entries to explain the events. We also made war effort posters to encourage Belgian refugees to come and work in the factory.
