Tag Archives: blitz

On the Brink of War – Surbiton 1936

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Surbiton Charter Day Medallion 1936 (Obverse)

This morning, I woke from a dream which featured a computer and I checked the time on the computer as I woke – 2.20. When I woke properly , I realised this was an imprecise way of checking the time so I looked at my phone. It was 2.21. It looked, at that moment, as if I had finally discovered a super-power. At one time I was able to wake at a specified time (varied by about five minutes) but as I grew older and bought better alarm clocks I neglected to use it. Had I rediscovered it?

I toddled off to the bathroom, went back to bed, set myself a target of waking at 5.20 (no point in being over-ambitious – 3 hours would do nicely) and woke up at 3.40. Clearly I had not rediscovered my old super-power. Nor had i found a way of improving my sleep. It looks like my ragged sleep patterns are here to stay.

Rising some hours later, full of energy, I set to checking emails and comments, then moved on to completing an article about Surbiton Charter Day in 1936. It was a day full of good cheer, civic pride and hope for the future. The newspaper said that hordes of eager schoolchildren listened to speeches from civic dignitaries, though I fear they may have erred on this point. The children were given packed lunches and small bronze medallions before setting off for a day of sports.

Surbiton Charter Day Medallion 1936 (Reverse)

That, I always find, is the problem with medallions from this period. A way of life was about to end, and a number of lives would be changed forever. The writer of this short memoire found that his life changed direction abruptly in 1939. For those of you not familiar with the term, here is a link to the Bevin Boys.

The war memorial at Surbiton holds 469 names. It is unusual, because that is more than were lost in the Great War, but it can be explained by he expansion of the Borough between the two World Wars. There are, as far as I can see, no names of civilians who were killed in the bombing. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission listed, but I know from various sources that 32 High Explosive bombs were dropped in the early part of the war and that 22 V! bombs hit the Borough in the latter part of the war. At least 12 people were killed in one attack, including four members of one family, the Scriveners, the youngest being 2, and the  two Gale sisters. They are listed on the Commonwealth War Graves site but not on the War Memorial.

St Mark’s Church was bombed in 1940 and not rebuilt until 1960 – stones from the bombing were used to make a cairn at the War memorial outside the library. There is a picture of the memorials here – WW1, WW2, Civilians of WW2 (no names) and the St Mark’s cairn. The CWGC gives 52 names from the Borough, including a variety of couples, family members and siblings.

I will add a link when my article on the medallion is published on Facebook. Sorry it’s a bit of a depressing post, but after finishing the original one about Charter Day, it seemed incomplete to leave it in 1936.

With a penny for size comparison

 

 

Good Intentions, a Silver Cigarette Case and some Carrot Trivia

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That knocking sound you can hear is one more nail in the coffin of my good intentions. I’m not sure how long it’s been since my last post, but it’s a lot longer than I meant it to be.

In that time I have written the story of Lieutenant Ken Revis MBE, the bomb disposal officer who was blinded when a group of mines went off when he was “delousing” the piers at Brighton. It’s pretty much the same story that I published here a few years ago, but I have some extra information.

It seems that the silver cigarette case I have, was not given by Lt Revis to his Sergeant, it was given by the people of Patcham. They gave a cigarette case to Sgt Woodrow and a silver cup to Revis, all the others were given silver identity discs. I suspect the gifts were dictated by what they could find locally to re-use. The book “Blinding Flash”, which I bought recently, gives the details.

The bomb fell close to a house and though it only went about twelve feet down, took four days to dig out and make safe. The aircraft that appears to have dropped it (and I confess I haven’t yet tied this up 100%) was shot down, killing all the crew. There don’t appear to have been any other planes shot down at the same time, ut as I say, I haven’t yet tied it up 100%. I may never do. But t5hen, until last week I didn’t know someone had written a biography of Lt Revis.

The men were given their gifts when they attended Patcham Church the weekend after they defused the bomb.

I’ve also done a piece on carrots in wartime. That was a nicer one to do – nobody died and nobody was injured. One or two may have turned orange, but that’s a risk you take with vegetables.  Did you know there was a plot to feed oestrogen to Hitler by injecting his carrots. No, that’s not a euphemism, the Office of Strategic Services (an American organisation that later became the CIA) developed a plan to bribe Hitler’s gardener to inject oestrogen into carrots. The plan was that he would either become a gentler person and stop the war, or that he would grow man boobs and his moustache would fall out, thus making the German people lose respect for him. It does not appear to have worked, tough when you look at the state of Herman Göring in later photos you have to wonder if he was the one nibbling the carrots.

They had a similar plan later for contaminating Castro’s boots with thallium, which would, they hoped, make his beard fall out and make him less capable of leading Cuba.

And no, carrots don’t help you see in the dark unless you are deficient in Vitamin A.

Me, impersonating a hamster

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Well, we’ve bitten the bullet and announced the shed will be open every Friday from 10.30 until 12.30. Let’s see if the initial enthusiasm translates into a a viable membership.

I used to use a lathe with my grandfather when I was in my early teens and I wish I’d carried on with it, but I didn’t and I’m going to have to relearn the skills again. It’s just one of a range of handicraft skills I let lapse over the years. I’m also going to have a crack at making wooden toys. It’s another thing that runs in the blood – the same grandfather made so many black market toys from scrap wood during the war he was able to buy a bath. A proper bath, that is, rolled top and all, not a hip bath.

He was a very industrious man, my grandfather. He joined up twice and his employers made the RAF cough him up twice because they couldn’t do without him. He spent all day as a quarry foreman at a cement company (they need a lot of cement in wartime, what with runways and pill boxes and such) and all night as a fireman, serving in Manchester and Liverpool during the blitz. I’m not quite sure where his spare time came from but he didn’t let it go to waste.

As I sit here, frittering my time with inconsequential chat on a blog I’m not sure he’d be pleased to see the way I turned out.

In group terms the day started badly when the taxi turned up with only three people. They said they’d told the driver he’d missed a pick-up but we’re not sure, as they aren’t keen on the new arrangement where there are four of them in the taxi.

It was all sorted by a quick call to the taxi company, but it wasn’t a great start.

It’s also an example of what happens when cost-cutting leads to the use of cheaper and less efficient taxi companies, though some would call me cynical.

It was a rainy day and though we rewove some willow hedge, potted herbs for the Ploughing Match and polished off a number of odd jobs, it didn’t seem like we did much as it was all in bits and bats.

Apple pressing again tomorrow – they sold so much at the weekend we need another pressing just to restock the cafe. That’s good, but it also puts me in mind of a hamster constantly circling in his wheel.

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