We have been inundated recently by a huge number of TV programmes and also film, theatre and radio, about the Great War. But they mostly concentrate on the fighting and death toll. And there are a huge number of World War 1 memorials to the fighting and the dead both along the Embankment and around Hyde Park Corner. So we thought we would cover something different about the war – the role of women on the Home Front.

You’ll hear how women took over from men in munitions factories, on farms and in many other jobs, even as footballers! We’ll see where there were huge recruitment and fund raising stunts, as well as different types of war hospital, hundred year old air raid shrapnel marks, and you’ll hear how things associated with the World War 2 Home Front such as air-raid shelters had their roots in the Great War. And you hear about queues, shortages, rationing, the allotment campaign, nurseries and the Spanish Flu. There’s also London’s biggest statue to a woman, which comes from the Great War and highlights how propaganda was used. And you see the Suffragette Memorial and hear how women finally won the vote during the war. We’ll show you lots of great photos too.

Start Embankment underground station
Finish St James underground station
Shorter walk alternative – start Charing Cross underground station