Thursday 21 August 2014

HOW CANADA HELPED THOUSANDS OF BRITISH WW2 EVACUEES

Interviews with Second World War evacuees, together with surviving wartime records, show there were certain individuals and organisations that made a huge difference to the lives of these penniless evacuees, not just financially, but also emotionally. Amongst these were the Canadian Channel Islander Societies who helped thousands of British evacuees.

When news of the Channel Islands evacuation and occupation reached Channel Islanders living in the Vancouver area of Canada, a sense of shock swept through the community. They quickly realised that the evacuees, who had been sent to the British mainland, would need clothing, shoes, cash and medical supplies. The Channel Islands – Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Herm and Sark are 70 miles away from England but around 30 miles from the French coast.

Channel Island evacuee children in Stockport Town Hall receive toys donated by the local people




In June 1940, 17,000 children and adults left Guernsey, arriving in England with just the clothes on their backs. Whole schools were evacuated with their teachers, and some reopened in England during the war as 'Guernsey schools' so that the evacuated teachers and pupils could remain together. One school was financially supported by Americans, with one child being sponsored by the President's wife, Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. The only communication between England and Guernsey was through 25 word Red Cross letters.

Interviews with the evacuees, together with surviving wartime records, show there were certain individuals and organisations that made a huge difference to the lives of these penniless evacuees, not just financially, but also emotionally. Amongst these were the Canadian Channel Islander's Societies. When news of the Channel Islands evacuation and occupation reached the 500 Channel Islanders living in the Vancouver area, a sense of shock swept through the community. They quickly realised that the evacuees would need clothing, shoes, cash and medical supplies, and a writer, Philippe William Luce, formed the Vancouver Channel Islanders Society. A handful of their newsletters have survived, and the society noted at one meeting,

Thousands of old folks, women and children urgently need help, and every dollar counts. It costs about $1000 a week for shoe repairs and dental attention alone. Every letter from the kiddies to their parents in the Islands costs one shilling and families building homes in England need stoves, furniture, bedding etc”

Channel Island mothers, teachers and children arrive in Cheshire


The society's newsletters give details of the fund raising efforts they made. They sold Christmas cards and Jersey seed potatoes, and held raffles – with one prize being a prize Jersey calf which raised $3,000. Local people donated clothing, shoes, socks, quilts and books to the society, which were sent to Victory Hall, 535 Homer Street, Vancouver, for packaging on Thursday afternoons. The society organised lunches for which admission was $25 per person, together with musical evenings, concerts, film shows and picnics. In October 1941 the Vancouver Lion's Club donated all the proceeds of its annual charity concert to the society, which featured an appearance by Lansing Hatfield, a star of the New York Opera. By February 1942, the Vancouver society had sent $3,254 to London for the evacuees together with 119 crates of clothing, and letters of thanks began to arrive from Channel Island evacuees in England,

More and more letters of thanks are coming from the recipients; some exceedingly touching scribblings from little children”

Some of the Canadians who donated clothing to the society placed little notes in the pockets of coats and jackets. A Guernsey evacuee at the Forest School in Cheshire found the following  little note in the pocket of his coat,




“To the little boy who receives this parcel. Please write to me

at the above address and let me know how you like it. May

God Bless you, and keep you safe from harm. Sincerely yours,

Mrs C J Collett”


It is not known if the boy contacted Mrs Collett at the time.  Another society was established in Victoria,Vancouver Island, containing around 100 members. At their first meeting in August 1941, the committee decided to arrange a Channel Islands Arts and Crafts event, to arouse interest in the islands, and between 1941 and 1945, the Victoria society raised $4,992 for the evacuees. They used the Women's Institute rooms on Fort Street for the collection and packaging of clothing, before sending the crates to the Vancouver society, or directly to London.

It is not known exactly how many more Channel Islanders in Canada carried out this wonderful work, but their efforts clearly went a long way in helping hundreds of unfortunate evacuees in England who had been torn from their homes.


If anyone in Canada can help provide me with more information about the Canadian Channel Islanders societies, I would love to hear from you. 

I would also love to contact the family of Mrs C J Collett whose note is displayed in this article.

Please contact me via the comments box at the foot of this page. 

YOU CAN SEE MY SECOND WORLD WAR BOOKS VIA THIS LINK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gillian-Mawson/e/B008MWQ0IE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1





Thursday 7 August 2014

WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATIONS IN WHALEY BRIDGE, DERBYSHIRE

On Monday evening, my family and many others, of all ages, gathered around the war memorial in Whaley Bridge Memorial Park, with candles, for the 'Lights out' vigil, to mark the outbreak of the First World War, one hundred years ago.

It was very moving indeed, and after a period of silence, wartime songs were sung, poems and diary entries were read out, and a real sense of community filled the air. Clearly those who lost their lives during that conflict have not been forgotten and hopefully never will be.

Upon our return home that evening, my husband reached for a notepad and began to scribble the following poem. This is totally uncharacteristic of him. He has not written a poem since he left school quite a few years ago! Clearly the 'Lights Out' vigil moved him a great deal.

I like it very much and, with his tentative permission I have reproduced it below in case it is of interest to you.

They stood in the water
They stood in the mud
They stood in the gore
the filth and the blood

They fell in the water
They fell in the mud
They fell in the gore
in the filth and the blood

The mud it did claim them
Many never were found
Those that were buried
live forever in foreign ground

Though time it has passed
We remember them still
Killed by common men
who bore them no ill will

Sent to their deaths
by Kaiser and Kings
When will man learn
to stop doing these things?

PRAYER SERVICE HELD BEFORE THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME