Report by Joy Ridgewell
West Tilbury WI sang Jerusalem to start their meeting, President Gill Morris then introduced our speaker Mick Brown who gave a really interesting talk on evacuees. The first indication of sending people away started in 1938 at the time of the Munich Crisis not as most people thought as the war started in 1939, it was anticipated that when war came the most vunerable of the population should be already out of danger.
Many schools in London and elsewhere with their teachers began to evacuate the children and some women who had small children were allowed to go only to find nothing had been arranged when they arrived. This then led in ’39 to the WVS planning placement of them in country areas.
Mick brought photos of the children with their luggage and gas masks all wearing lables ready to get on to the trains and begin their journey. We reminisced on how the food was rationed and how people’s lives changed as a result of this. One remarkable photo was of a group of children from Gibraltar who had been sent to London and ended up at school in the Natural History Museum.
A thank you letter from Kath Lock was read out for the flowers sent to her on her 90th birthday. Photos are required for the Spring Group meeting next month’s display.
Competition: A Wartime Recipe, Beetroot Pudding was won by Gill Morris.
Raffle prizes, were won by Iris Crane, Niki Nunn, Christine Hatter
Our meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month.
Why not come along and give the WI a try.
Next meeting will be on April 3rd 2012 at 7pm at West Tilbury Village Hall,
Speaker: Eric Barlow a talk on India
