Dalry School

On Thursday 28 May 2009 the 4M History group took a trip to the The Devil’s Porridge in Eastriggs.  The day started off at 9.00 am, where we made our way to Dumfries.  At Dumfries we looked at the War Memorial.  We researched names that we found on the memorial.  One name that we had been following on that day was a woman called Roberta Robertson.  She was the only woman that had been put on a War Memorial in Dumfriesshire and she worked in the factory in Eastriggs.

Next, we made our journey to the Devil’s Porridge. We were greeted when we got there and given a little introduction to the site. The factory stretched 9 miles by 2 miles. There were remains of a train track where the workers would get on to go to work. Although the museum was small on the outside, it had a lot of information on the inside. What it lacked in size, it made up for in quality. Unlike most museums, you could touch the articles, rather than just look at them which made it unique.

I enjoyed visiting The Devil’s Porridge as it was different, but I think that you will be surprised by the size, which may be a disappointment to some. Overall, this is a very good experience, and you can learn quite a lot.

On Thursday 28 May 2009 my history class went on a trip to the Devil’s Porridge, a small museum in Eastriggs.  It is all about the First World War – the trenches, the effects on the lives of British citizens, and mainly, the cordite factory which was at neary Gretna.

We stopped on the way to look at the War Memorial in Dumfries.  I was amazed by the sheer amount of people that had died from Dumfriesshire alone.  We each picked a name from the memorial, which we would later research.  I picked the one woman on the memorial – Roberta Robertson.

When we arrived at the Devil’s Porridge Museum, a member of staff came to greet us and pointed out where the factory would have been.  Then, we all headed inside and saw a video about the factory, the workers and the work.  After that we split into 3 groups. 

First, my group looked at the lives and working and living conditions of the workers.  I found out here that Roberta Robertson had worked at this factory.  There had been a fire.  She had got everyone out, but been killed herself.  This was why she got mentioned on the war memorial. 

Next, we looked at the lives of the civilians – rationing, air raids, propaganda, DORA etc.  We saw what a typical home and put would look like and got to play on an old typewriter!  There was also some soap from this time.  It smelled disgusting!! 

Finally, we looked at trench life – the food, the conditions, etc.  There were eye-witness accounts of experiences, posters and post cards from the war time, replicas of things, some stuff actually from the First World War and mannequins to demonstrate what people might have been up to – I am terrified of those mannequin things!

Somewhere in the middle of all this excitement, we had lunch.

I had a really good day and learned a lot.  The Devil’s Porridge Museum is an amazing little place (despite the scary mannequins!)  There were lots to see and read and you could touch, hold and feel pretty much everything.  It was really nice to realise how much to do with World War I happened right near us, and I loved hearing about how women had really come into their own and proved the men wrong, doing great work, without a murmur of complaint, despite the danger to themselves.  Without their effort, we would not have had our victory in the Great War.  I would advise anyone to go to the Devil’s Porridge (especially feminists like me)!

Reports by two S3 students