May issue - Magazine - Page 19
Glenside
News
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COMMUNITY
VE Day in Castle Bytham
Arthur Chambers remembers the day war ended and the celebrations
in Castle Bytham at the time
On the 8th May 1945 (a Tuesday) an announcement was
made on the radio that the war in Europe had ended.
I was 11 years old at the time and my friends and I
decided we wanted to make a bonfire to celebrate. These
were my friends from the Village School, that is the Old
School House as it is now. So, along with pals Charlie
Harris from Glen Road, Raymond Cousins from the
crossroads and some others, and with my father's big push
truck, we went in search of wood.
We were along the front street in the village collecting
stuff for a bonfire and the American soldiers turned up and
asked us what we were doing. “Collecting wood for a
bonfire,” we said. “Where's that going to be?” they asked.
“On top of Castle Hill,” we shouted. “We will bring you
some stuff,” they said, and off they went. At the time, they
were clearing out of North Witham, ready to go home.
When the first truck arrived it was a big old 4x4
American truck – “You'll never get up there in that,” we
shouted. We were blown away when it went through the
gate and crossed the river at the bottom of Pinfold Road.
The Americans drove the truck around the moat to the
back and then drove up that hill to the top of the mound
and across to the front. If you hadn't been there, you
would never have believed that could be done, but they
managed it.
Once they got to the top they radioed back to base and
before we knew it a further two trucks arrived, filled with
wood. By end of the day, three lorry loads of wood had
come and we had a large fire ready for lighting.
The RAF chaps from Morkery bomb dump got to
know about it and they came in the evening. We lit the fire
and, because there were no fireworks, they fired their
Verey pistols (like a flare gun) off into the night sky. The
coloured lights were as close as we could get to fireworks.
The whole village came out. I think the bonfire was lit
by a chap named Roy Driver who lived at the old Castle
Pub and had married Connie Green. They were Dorothy's
parents (Dorothy lives out on the Swayfield Road with her
family). There was no street party, nobody had enough
food to make one. Everybody had their backs to the wall
with nothing, times were very hard.
After all that we had been through during the war, and
although we hadn't got anything, we managed to have a
celebration for VE Day. That combination of the
Americans, the RAF and a few young lads from the
village ensured that we had a bonfire and fireworks to
mark the occasion.
I thought it was sad that 80 years on, when everybody
has got more than enough and a good standard of living,
and other villages had some sort of celebration, Castle
Bytham had nothing. In the back of my mind I think
'different times, different people'.
Nevertheless, I thought it was important to share my
story with you as there aren't many of us left who
remember what happened. It's important not to forget.
After VE Day
After that day, the Americans continued clearing out of
North Witham. Some had already gone home. RAF
Morkery was shutting down and they were clearing the
site of bombs. Gradually people who had been away
fighting in the war were coming home but, as I can
remember, times were harder in some respects after VE
Day than they were before because rationing went on until
the mid 50s. It was a job to get anything at all.
Gradually things improved, our chippy (just past the
Village Hall on Pinfold Road) started frying again as Mr
Wilkins opened up. You can still see it if you walk up
Pinfold Road. Past the Village Hall there is a wall that
sticks out with a window – that was the chippy. Some time
after, oranges and bananas started to appear in the shop.
My sister had been working at Marco Almond
Productions in Grantham. She was an inspector in the
factory, which became a munitions factory during the war.
A bus used to come and pick up in the village and take
workers there. The factory didn't close straight away after
the war ended. It was owned by Denis Kendall, MP for
Grantham, and he decided to make a 'people's' car (the
Kendall car) that would sell for £100 plus £25 tax.
Unfortunately, the prototypes were all flawed and
production never got off the ground. The factory only ever
made three-wheeled tractors known as Kendall
Beaumonts.
Gradually the village changed back to people working
in the quarry and on the farms, and quite a number of men
worked for the Forestry Commission, planting trees. A lot
of trees were planted to replace those chopped down for
the war effort. The trees were all quick-maturing
coniferous trees that were foreign to the woodlands around
here. Now they're being felled gradually and replaced with
native English-type trees.
The airfields went into disuse after VE Day. North
Witham became derelict, Cottesmore and Wittering kept
going but Folkingham and Saltby fell into disuse. Morkery
Woods went back to normal woodland and the campsite
where the Americans were under canvas on the Witham
Road went back to grass fields.
When the Americans and the RAF left, the village
became very quiet. The Americans had kept us alive - they
were always in the village, giving us sweets and food
when we couldn't get any due to war shortages and
rationing. We missed them when they went.
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