This tells the story of school life during WW2 and features the recently discovered and exquisite art work of a WW2 school art teacher at a secondary school where I was headteacher. This teacher set out to document in paint and pencil the lives of school children and their teachers as the war unfolded. I don't think there is a similar collection of paintings anywhere. Her work features in paint the disrupted schooling, air-raids, doodlebugs, and underground lessons in shelters which were experienced by so many children. The talk also features fascinating photos of the underground shelters where those lessons took place. The talk has been hugely popular.

Mary Smith spent her working life in education in secondary, further and higher education, including as headteacher of a large secondary school in Kent. She is now retired but continues to act as an educational consultant, and as a teacher with refugee groups. She has also worked as a freelance writer across her career.