Extra Time wins in Leiston

Mr Dunn was born in Leiston in 1905.

In 1985, he took part in an oral history project, recounting his memories of the town and, in particular, Garretts Engineering Works.

Last week, the Extra Time team at Leiston Primary listened to some of his stories, including how he and his classmates collected stones off a playing field so that it could be made into a football pitch for the L.W.A.A. – the Leiston Works Athletics Association.

After that, the children turned super sleuths, as they examined old newspapers in search of football results and other stories.

They topped off the session by impersonating the players in the old photographs and imagining what it might have been like for them to work at Garretts and play football.

All of which was a brilliant way to set them up for the session yesterday; their first Extra Time visit to the Long Shop Museum.

Between wanting to know how it all started and whether everyone had to go to church on Sunday to playing a vital cog on a production line and tapping out a tune on a typewriter, the session raced by.

We’ll be back in the Museum next week, when Hatty will be putting them through their paces as players and workers – and hopefully I will have found out some of the answers to their many questions.