I was recently using the school log books of Heywood for our ongoing Community History project (http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/) and found that the earliest log books we held for the school were from 1938. It is unusual for us to took at the log books for this period, and I discovered that they gave an interesting insight into the lives of rural schoolchildren (including the evacuees) during wartime.

 
Evacuees from Portsmouth in Kilmington, 1939.
Ref: P32983

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The current concerns over swine flu call to mind the famous influenza pandemic of 1918. It has been estimated that the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the First World War, at somewhere between 20 and 30 million people world-wide. The flu, which was known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe”, was most deadly for people aged 20 to 40. This age range was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children.

Sutton Veny burial register 1918

Wiltshire was not hit as badly as more densely populated areas, but nevertheless the impact was still felt strongly.

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