Commemorations – Page 10

Stroud and WW2

by Jackson | 19th July 2021 | Commemorations, History, World War II | 0 Comments

“AREA EIGHT” IN THE WAR AGAINST HITLERISM BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE CIVIL DEFENCE SEVICES AND A.R.P. IN STROUD AND NAILSWORTH By P.R. SYMONDS With a Preface by General Sir Hugh Elles, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.’ K.C.V.O.’ D.S.O., A Foreword by Bramwell Hudson, Esq., J.P. And 34 Illustrations

“Your path of duty has been the way to glory and amidst the glorious records of the war the story of Civil Defense will take a high place.” H.M. THE KING PUBLISHED BY THE STROUD (Urban and Rural) AND NAILSWORTH (Urban) DEFENCE COMMITTEE R.D.C. Chambers, John Street, Stroud 1945

WAR

The first week of the war saw the arrival of 1,200 evacuees from Birmingham, the opening of public air raid shelters, the sandbagging of selected public buildings, the closure of cinemas, and the black-out, while ‘most people carried respirators, and there was a general air of expectancy.’ ‘On Friday, November 10th, the first Preliminary Air Raid Warning, known as the “Yellow Warning,” was received at 11.20 a.m. Yellow Warnings were confidential warnings for A.R.P. Control, and were not for issue to the public, so that no sirens were sounded. On this occasion the warning message was passed up to a meeting of the R.D.C. Committee, that happened to be sitting, as several of the members were engaged in A.R.P. A year later, when the number of “Yellows” received amounted to an average of three a day, nobody would have even troubled to inform the Committee, but on this occasion (the first for this Area) the members picked up their respirators and left. (It is reported that the staff spent the rest of the morning gazing through windows at the sky watching for the approach of a German armada!)’

The Picture: Munition Girls at Lister’s

by Stuart Butler | Mar 28, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

The Picture I think that there are about 350 of you Facing the camera in a variety of poses, Some leaning affectionately on shoulders, Some yearning to hide with modest self-effacement, Some looking the camera right between the eyes, But few of you are smiling with...

The Road Not Taken

by Stuart Butler | Mar 23, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

The Road Not Taken She was eager to talk with us, Hurrying up from her garden chores, Pleased that we should take a picture Of her thatched home: Old Fields House, Where Edward Thomas stayed before the ‘War; She pointed out Robert Frost’s house: Little Iddens, And...

Memorialisation and Cultural Control

by Stuart Butler | Mar 21, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

Memorialisation and Cultural Control (1) Memorialisation and Cultural Control (2) Memorialisation and Cultural Control I’ve just re-read the old Marxist maxim about the philosopher’s task being to change the world rather than merely interpret it, and that took me back...

‘Oh What a Lovely War’

by Stuart Butler | Feb 18, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

‘Oh What a Lovely War’ I grew up with war: my father fought in WW2 and my granddad (with whom we lived for a while in my childhood) fought in WW1. I still have my first history book, slipped beneath my pillow by my dad when he returned late from Lossiemouth. ‘A...

THE WIPERS TIMES: Our Volume 3

by Stuart Butler | Feb 15, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

Spring is coming, watch the whizz-bang As it shrieks with mad delight, All the how’zers howl the message As they break the still of night, Through the winter, long and weary, Cold and dreary, we have passed, Lived and slept in Hell’s own muddle, Fed and worked in...

THE WIPERS TIMES: Our Volume Two

by Stuart Butler | Feb 12, 2014 | World War I | 0 Comments

A DWELLER IN WIPERS’ ELEGY TO THAT TOWN (With apologies to Grey) A six-inch tolls the knell of parting day. The transport cart winds slowly o’er the lea. A sapper homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to Wipers and to me. Now fades the glimmering star...

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