THE experiences of evacuee children in the Second World War will be brought back to life by today's youngsters - thanks to a Lottery grant.

C&T, Worcester's only professional theatre company working with children, has just been awarded an £18,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund.

It will now use the cash to fund the latest in hi-tech computers and video technology to record the experiences of real Second World War evacuees, putting them on a website, www.thelivingnewspaper.net

Pupils at secondary schools across Worcestershire and Herefordshire will then use what they have learnt from the site to make short plays or documentaries, which will also be recorded and put online for tohers to see.

The evacuees will then have the chance to see for themselves how young people have reacted to their stories of life in the 1940s.

Paul Sutton, C&T's artistic director, said: "We're really excited about this.

"There are hundreds of people with true stories to tell about their childhood experiences of the war, and we can bridge the gap to young people.

"People go on about how children today are different to how they were 60 years ago but we feel that so many things are the same.

"If today's young people were evacuated to a strange town where they didn't know anyone, they'd feel scared, excited and nervous, just like the real evacuees did.

"And there are children all over the world living with the fear of war."

He said he hoped the scheme, dubbed the "E-vacuees Project", will help children living in the two counties understand and empathise with the plight of youngsters in war-torn countries.

C&T, based at University College Worcester, in Henwick Road, St John's, has been running for 16 years and its projects are used all over the world, from Australia to the United States.