TO MARK the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, a 1940s-inspired pop up tea room will appear in Bude next month to raise money for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.

Clair Roberts, who runs The Kitchen Front, aims to bring some 1940s nostalgia to the town as well as raising funds for charity.

The menu will be inspired by ration books and will include items such as Camp coffee cake, corned beef and spam sandwiches and various other home-made cakes — along with music from Glenn Miller and The Andrews Sisters playing in the background.

The Kitchen Front is a 1940s-inspired business that was set up in February this year. Clair creates, designs and makes bespoke ceramic and fabric kitchenware and personalised gifts. She also runs workshops and tea parties and organises mini 1940s events.

Clair said: “I am into the 1940s and 1950s due to being taught how to bake by my grandmother, who survived the London Blitz. By the time I was nine, I knew what you could get on ration and how not to waste anything when baking!

“I have an affinity for that era, the ethos, ethics and manners of a pivotal time in history. I am ever grateful to the brave young men who fought and died for our freedom.

“We are losing that generation now. They’re not going to be around forever and if we don’t get their stories then they’re going to be lost.”

Clair recently interviewed 35 people from Bude, who remembered the time between 1939 and 1945, when rationing ended, and an American World War Two veteran who fought in France with the Allies.

The amazing stories were illustrated into posters and used by Clair in a recent exhibition.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week’s edition of the Post.