Sweethearts in the Service

Last weekend at our Crafternoon, in honour of Valentines Day, we explored Sweethearts in the Service and made Sweetheart brooches.

Sweetheart brooches first became popular in World War I. Men who left home to serve their country would leave their loved ones a badge with their regiment or service crest on it. The badges were given to mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and brothers. Anyone whom they loved and were leaving behind. The badge let them know that they would be in their hearts whilst they were serving.

The Craft

Today, at our Crafternoon, we made Sweetheart brooches inspired by the ones boys in the RAF left their loved ones in World War 2. There was some pretty amazing creations and some fantastic use of glitter. Some of our creative crafters gave their brooches to their parents and some of them kept them for themselves.

Couldn’t attend today? Why not try the creating your own sweetheart brooch at home? All you need is:

Glue
Scissors
Shiny card
Glitter
Different coloured paper
Anything else you have in the house!
We printed RAF insignia to stick on too!
Safety pin
Sellotape

First, you need to decide what shape the base of your badge will be, we had circles, squares and hexagons! We also cut out and decorated extra ‘wings’ to add to our base – the wings show that the wearer’s sweet heart was in the RAF.

How you decorate your badge is completely up to you, often they would be encrusted with gems and have ‘RAF’ in the middle. When you have finished and all the glitter is dry, attach a pin to the back with a little bit of Sellotape and give it to your Sweetheart to wear with pride!

We would love to see what you have created, why not take a picture and send it over to our Learning Officer, Jess on learning@internationalbcc.co.uk

The IBCC have free Family Fun Day’s and Crafternoons throughout the year, to find out when our next one is and discover our other events click here.

If you can support the project’s education and community programmes further through a donation please click here

A Pilot’s story – One hell of a bombing run

Flying Officer Roy Yule DFC – a Lancaster pilot and captain on No 626 Squadron based at RAF Wickenby, Lincs during 1945. ‘On February 7th 1945 we were briefed for a night raid on Kleve. This operation was to prepare the way for the attack by 15th Scottish Division across the German frontier near Reischwald. […]