WHAT better way to teach history than to take the pupils back in time.

That's exactly what war historian Jason King tried to do when he visited Tottington High School.

Year Nine pupils, with the help of actual wartime costumes and artefacts, "brought to life" Far East ground staff, Home Guard, D-Day and De-Nazification officers.

And pupils and staff, prompted by Mr King, told of wartime stories they had heard from family members.

Mrs Catherine Daynes, a special support assistant at the school, told how her mother Anne Rose Murphy appeared in several Ministry of War public information films, as well as magazines, including Tatler and Vogue, when she lived in London during the Second World War.

Pupil Adam Metcalfe told of the lucky escape of his grandfather, who broke his kneecap on the HMS Neptune, a Royal Navy Cruiser which was sunk off the coast of Tripoli in December 1941. But because of the injury sustained, Mr Arnold Metcalfe was dropped at Gibraltar before the dreadful event. According to reports of the day there was only one survivor, with 764 officers and men losing their lives.

Throughout the day, pupils were able to take part in a number of workshops where they could handle a wide range of domestic and military items.

Joyce Kinsey, the school's publicity officer, said: "Over a 24-year period Jason has amassed a large collection, and he is acquiring more items which serve to allow the children to actually handle some aspects of weaponry which up to now they have only been able to read about.

"It was interesting to note the uniforms worn by the children were the actual clothes of past military personnel, and just how physically small in stature these people were compared to today."

As well as teaching part-time at a Nottingham comprehensive school, where he was once head of history, Mr King also leads parties to the battlefields of Northern Europe.

Mrs Kinsey said: "He regularly guides our students through the First World War battlefields, which helps bring the war into sharp focus."