Oak Class Production - Archibald's War
Lucy's Grandma remembers 1939...
A little girl, Maggie, clutches her precious teddy bear. She's being evacuated, and it's noisy, crowded and busy in the station. Still, at least she's got her teddy bear, Archibald.
Maggie and her brother Tom share a compartment with their friends: weepy Edith, and the loud, boisterous Baxters - Liz, Fred and Ernie. It's a long journey, but the Guard is friendly and the children look after each other - when they are not arguing.
Arriving in the countryside, the children wait to be picked by the host families. Only then does Maggie realise she's left Archibald on the train...
As the evacuees settle in to their new life in the country, we follow Archibald's story too. He's picked up by the friendly Guard, who gives him to his own son, Jack, back in the city. The teddy bear becomes Jack's best friend through the nightly air raids. When Jack and his sister Eileen are eventually sent away to the countryside themselves, of course the teddy bear goes too.
Meanwhile, the Baxters are running wild, yet somehow winning over their grumpy host, Farmer Price. Although she misses her family - and Archibald, of course - Maggie adjusts to life in the village. As the years pass even Edith becomes a Land Girl.
When the GIs throw a big party for everyone in the area, little do Jack and Maggie realise who they are about to meet. Jack's little cousin brings a certain teddy bear to the party, too. When Maggie recognises her beloved Archibald, there is an emotional struggle over the bear; whose is he now?
As Lucy listens to her Grandma's memories, she doesn't guess the surprising ending to Archibald's story.
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