See how the Weymouth villages of Upwey and Broadwey have changed over the years with an exhibition this weekend.

Visitors to an exhibition charting village life over the last 100 years will be able to see pictures of sports teams, Broadwey School and post-war fundraising efforts for the Memorial Hall.

The Upwey and Broadwey Village History Weekend will be at the Memorial Hall in Victoria Avenue, Upwey, Weymouth on Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29 between 10am and 4pm both days.

The displays show how the villages have changed over the years and recall events, celebrations, people and places over the past 100 years or so.

Until about 40 years ago the villages were almost self sufficient, with bakers, grocery stores, and separate schools. The exhibition uses photos and information provided by residents past and present to show how village life used to be.

The exhibition was made possible after people responded to a request for photos documenting the villages' history.

These photos have been combined with the Upwey and Broadwey History Society's existing collection.

Organiser Sue Virgin there has been been a terrific response to a request for information and as much as possible has been used.

Here are some of the highlights of the exhibition:

• The Memorial Hall is officially a War Memorial, and was built from funds raised by the villages over a 10 year period, as a lasting and useful memorial to those brave souls from the parishes of Upwey and Broadwey who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars. The story of that fund raising from 1945-1956 will be on display together with plans of how the hall will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War later this year.

• Upwey and St Nicholas, Broadwey School photos, from 1900 until it closed in 1976 and 1972 respectively, are displayed with extracts from the headmasters’ log books to remind past pupils of some of the events in school life.’

• The Life and Times of Broadwey Secondary Modern School as recorded by Mr Flay’s Publishing Club from 1949 (when the school opened) until 1975.

• Sports teams including football, cricket, skittles and darts teams.

• Aerial photos taken in 1947, 1972 and 1997 show how the villages have developed and grown. Street scenes with information about the shops/businesses which were there.

Sue moved from Upwey to Dorchester in the 1980s but maintains firm connections with her native village and to Broadwey, where her sister continues to live.

She said the collection showed dramatic change in the two villages over the course of the years.

"They were separate villages until a big house-building program in the 1920s and 1930s; before that there were no houses on the Dorchester Road," she explained, adding that the way people lived in such outlying areas had also been altered by the century's major social changes.

"Back then, not so many people worked, so there was more of a social life in the village. And there were more shops - now, with the supermarkets, and cars and better transport, there's only a couple of shops left in each of the villages."

Sue is encouraging everyone with an interest in the area to come and view the exhibition.

She said: "The exhibition has a wide variety of displays, there’ll be something for everyone. Come along and enjoy a trip down memory lane or find out about life in the villages in days gone by."

*Upwey and Broadwey Village History Weekend, Upwey & Broadwey Memorial Hall, Victoria Avenue, Upwey, Weymouth DT3 5NG, Saturday April 28 and Sunday April 29, 10am to 4pm. Admission is free, refreshments will be available.