A NOSTALGIC journey back to the sights and sounds of wartime Britain awaits visitors to the Black Country Living Museum this weekend.

The museum will host its largest ever 1940s weekend on Saturday and Sunday (July 19 and 20), bringing Home Front history to life.

Visitors moving through the military checkpoints can expect to encounter squaddies, G.I.s, bombed out families and a calvacade of military vehicles.

A real air raid scenario will take place at St James’ school, where evacuee lessons will be held and spivs will be touting questionable ration cards, redeemable for spam fritters, bread pudding and other wartime classics.

The weekend will also feature a host of vintage entertainment with the witty wartime variety show ‘Dodging the Doodlebugs’, the austerity-busting ‘Home Front Kitchen and Beauty Tips’, vintage fashion shows, memorabilia markets and stirring speeches by Churchill.

The wartime melodies of the D-Day Darlings will also fill the Women’s Institute on Saturday evening.

Laura Wakelin, the museum’s director of communications and marketing, said: “This weekend is one of our most ambitious yet, full of a huge variety of wartime entertainment – we’re hoping it gives visitors a real feel for what it would have been like to live through Britain at that time.”

The evening event is pre-purchase only.

For information about tickets and prices, visit www.bclm.co.uk or call 0121 5579643.