Jambusters (29 page)

It was not only prisoners of war who were fortunate enough to get Red Cross parcels. Troops and sailors all over the world were pleased to receive knitted woollen goods from, amongst others, the WI. In addition to making gloves, sweaters, balaclava helmets and socks for the forces the WI was also asked to mend for them. Initially they thought it would be more helpful to teach the men to darn their own socks and mend their own shirts but soon they were involved in mending for the Army on top of everything else that they were expected to do. Mrs Browne, who was a member of Albury WI in Hertfordshire from 1942, described a meeting:

Volunteers were asked to go to the Newlands Corner Billet for Canadians on Mondays and Fridays from 3–5pm to mend for the troops stationed there. No one seemed too keen to go but offered to mend for them in their own homes. I had two young children and sometimes an evacuee so there was plenty to cope with. I was also on the roster of mothers who cooked and served soup to the children of Albury Village School, there being no school dinners then.

Buckinghamshire took the local anti-aircraft battery under its wing and announced that ‘one institute mends and darns for them, one gives them craft lessons, one arranged hot baths, books, hot pies and general hospitality’. Gloucestershire reported that 150 soldiers arrived in a small village, each carrying a bundle of dirty laundry. The WI washed, mended and darned for the soldiers and told their country secretary that they would carry on doing so for as long as the soldiers remained in their area. A West Sussex institute had so many military shirts and socks to mend that they had to raise money themselves in order to get more material to carry out their task.

Some institutes were approached directly for help. A chaplain for the Seamen’s Missions gave Greys WI in Berkshire a talk and they were ‘so impressed by the tales of heroism and endurance of the merchant fleets of England that the whole Institute started knitting energetically through the black evenings.’ Other institutes heard directly from members about men who were in need of their assistance. Mrs Close of Westbourne WI in Dorset wrote to the editor of
Home & Country
with her appeal:

Among all the war efforts there is one part of our Army which is likely to be forgotten. I mean the Home Battalions. Many of these men are on Out-Post duty and need socks, pullovers, mitts and scarves, just as much as the men overseas. They are stationed on hill tops, bridges and tunnels, often only quartered in tents. There are camps now all over the country and I appeal to my fellow members who have working parties to spare some things for the men quartered in their district.
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In 1944, Albury was asked by Ewhurst WI in Surrey for ‘Housewives’ to be made and sent to women in France who would need them after the liberation. Mrs Browne was once again involved:
‘Several were made. They consisted of a long piece of material, with cottons, needles, tapes, pins, buttons, etc fastened inside, rolled up and tied with tape. Peg Parfree and I cycled to a WI meeting at Ewhurst to deliver them, pursued by doodlebugs, one of which rumbled over during the meeting and crashed a couple of miles away.’

Barham with Kingston in East Kent knitted for the British Sailors’ Society which supplied the Merchant Navy, the fishing fleet, and shipping not under the Royal Navy. ‘No one needs telling what
they
mean to the food supply of Great Britain,’ said their president. As far as they had been able to gather there was no fund for supplying free materials so they had to raise every penny they spent. By raising money from entertainments, small donations and raffles they succeeded by January 1940 in sending 146 garments, including shirts, pyjamas, helmets, pullovers and socks. They also sent a parcel to the Dover Patrol.
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It was this institute that raised nearly £500 in two years for wool for garments for the merchant seamen and which also received a visit from Mrs Roosevelt and Mrs Churchill in 1942.

Getting wool was not always easy. Later on in the war there was the problem of supply but in the early months it was as much a question of how WIs could raise the money to buy it. One resourceful member made use of the car and trailer her husband had left her when he joined up. She gathered a couple of willing helpers and drove round the village hoping to collect waste paper. But the villagers, she explained in her report to the county, had more ambitious ideas. They offered any amount of salvage, from bedsteads to bicycles, fire irons to broken gates, as well as books, magazines, cardboard wrappers and even three rabbit skins. They loaded up the trailer and drove it down to the nearest dealer three miles outside the village. At one point there was a resounding crash as a bath fell off the trailer. People rushed out of their
houses to laugh and help them get the bath back on the trailer. When they weighed all the goods at the dealer’s they were thrilled to receive 32s 5d for their load. ‘Now we can get on with the socks.’

The WI were warmly thanked for their efforts by everyone who benefited. A letter, published in January 1940, is from E. Hastings-Ord, the Honorary Secretary of the British and Allied Comforts and Victims of War Fund. Under the title ‘Comforts for Friendless Serving Men’
Home & Country
published the letter from Mr Hastings-Ord who had been sending parcels of comforts to sailors, soldiers and airmen who had no relations or whose relations were too poor to be able to send them anything. ‘The thanks we get are quite pathetic in their gratitude and we should like to let all those institute members who have enabled us to give these friendless men the pleasure of opening a parcel of their own to show how much their generosity is appreciated.’
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Some institutes received so many letters of thanks during the early years of the war that they set aside a short slot before the end of the meeting so that the president could read them out.

In March 1941 the Secretary of the Comforts Committee of the Red Cross wrote to Miss Farrer asking for her help:

In the last war the Women’s Institutes were pioneers in the starting of toy making in this country, an industry which has now firmly established itself. This present war has brought to light another almost exclusively foreign industry, which I feel could be started with advantage in this country, that is the making of Chess sets. There is a tremendous demand for them among active forces, particularly Airmen, and we also receive many requests from Hospitals and Convalescent Homes.

One of our workers has recently made a set out of broom handles with a sharp penknife and polished with sandpaper. The cost is negligible and it is a very fascinating and pleasant work.
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This was a popular request as making toys provided a break from endless knitting, though as one member pointed out ruefully, knitted dolls and soldiers were popular as well as wooden toys. A year later the Ministry of Health appealed to the WI for toys for the nursery schools being set up for refugees coming from Malta and Gibraltar to London. The WI were asked to supply home-made toys – knitted dolls, felt animals and second-hand toys in good condition to keep the children entertained in their new environment. The Ministry even offered to pay for the materials for the toys.
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Edith Jones was delighted when she won first prize for her home-made doll in 1942.

In 1942 Miss Farrer passed on a request from the Society of Occupational Therapists for ‘some form of occupation which will help to pass the time more happily for the prisoners [of war] and, if possible, give warmth, comfort and a creative outlet’.
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County federations were encouraged to set up groups to put together suitable crafts, material and games that would entertain the prisoners. They were told that although they were not permitted to send sharp or dangerous tools, short-blade scissors and safety razor blades in holders could be included in the packages and that ‘special concessions have been made for the inclusion of printed or typewritten instructions’.
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Everything could be collected up and used, they were told: ‘unwanted and disused apparatus, odd pieces of material, cardboard from books, pencils, paints, craft books, all types of material for slippers, coat hangers, small pieces of good wood for models, mesh shuttles and sticks.’
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In short, anything that would entertain the POWs.

In June 1941 Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and began
the largest invasion in the history of warfare when 4.5 million troops invaded along an 1,800-mile front in Russia. In Britain people could only imagine the horror of women’s and children’s suffering to come in the Russian winter. In November of that year Mrs Milburn wrote: ‘Russia’s winter has begun and the Germans are having a hard time. Some have been found frozen to death and some are clad in women’s fur coats.’
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Later in the year the Joint War Organisation began an Aid to Russia fund with Mrs Churchill as the chairman. Around £8 million was raised for the fund to pay for warm clothing and medical supplies as well as portable X-ray units, ambulances and other medical equipment. What they also wanted to do was send something specifically for the women: fur-lined garments. Mrs Churchill turned to the WI for support. She appealed to them to line garments with home-grown rabbit skins and allocated a sum of money for curing the skins as well as providing coats for lining. ‘The keen desire of our members to help Russia has been amply proved, not only by the number of rabbit skins already received, but also by the almost embarrassing quantity and variety of fur coats, muffs, capes, stoles, sheepskin rugs, fox skins and even dog skins that have been received. Even a cat skin was attempted but proved incurable.’
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The National Federation advised counties who could not supply their own rabbit skins to offer to help in making up garments, and expert advice about patterns and handling was available from head office, who even offered to send an expert to work with a group of WIs if necessary. Once again the emphasis was on care: ‘It is essential that we should be economic in the use of the skins – nothing must be wasted. Each skin costs about 1s 6d to cure.’
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The Red Cross had supplied the coats for lining but smaller garments such as gloves and hats were made from scratch by members. ‘WI members made coats, waistcoats,
hoods and caps lined with rabbit fur for Russian women, members not only made the clothes but also reared the rabbits and cured the pelts. Sympathy for the women of Russia was strong. Warm clothing would be needed for the winter of 1942, they were told, so they stepped up their efforts. During two and half years of work 2,071 fur-lined garments were sent to Russia via the Red Cross. Mrs Churchill came to the WIs Consultative Council in 1943 and admired examples of the work and some garments were also on display at an exhibition organised by the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR.’
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Mrs Roberts of Trefnant WI in Denbighshire received a warm hand-written letter from Mrs Churchill in February 1942 thanking them ‘with all my heart’ for the gifts sent by the institute for her Fur for Russia fund. She said donations were flowing in from all over the country: ‘I feel they are particularly significant because they show the vivid and intense concern of the citizens of Great Britain for the glorious struggle for freedom of the Russian people and for the sufferings so silently and unflinchingly borne by them for their national life and ideals.’
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The Isle of Ely reported on the great success of its appeal for rabbit skins, the total of which had reached fifty-four ‘and many parcels of lovely fur’ for Mrs Churchill but sent an urgent word about skins to its members: ‘
Do please dry them before sending them through the post
. I am so pleased to receive them but prefer them dry.’
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The editor of
Home & Country
wrote: ‘The arrival of a moist and unpleasant parcel of rabbits’ skins had a most unpleasant effect upon the County Secretary of Derby.’
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Another job required of the WI was camouflage net garnishing. This was a vital job where little bits of green, black and brown material were sewn onto nets. Some of the nets were made by WI members in Cornwall, where the headquarters of camouflage net production was based at St Ives. The Ministry of
Supply put out a call for fishermen, whose livelihood had been severely curtailed by the war:

Hundreds of thousands of camouflage nets are wanted by the Min of Supply and thousands of fishermen and their wives are wanted to make them. Double hemp twine nets varying in size from 14 feet square to 35 feet square of 2 inch or 3 inch mesh are required. They are needed for work in obscuring guns, ammunition, wagons, tanks, buildings, stores and many other things which it is desirable to conceal from enemy aircraft.
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Britain had the largest net-making industry in the world and factories and looms, which formerly supplied fishing fleets around the world, were busy round the clock making nets for camouflage purposes. In addition large numbers of women and girls were employed in the cottages of the fishing villages braiding nets by hand to supplement the output of the machines. ‘Here, it is suggested, is an opportunity for work – much of which could be done at home in the fishing villages – of real national importance. Camouflage nets save lives!’
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For those women who agreed to make the camouflage nets by hand the WI was able to obtain the twine and patterns. This was paid work whereas the garnishing, which went on in WIs around the country, was not. Arnside WI in Cumbria were busy garnishing camouflage nets for several months. They had hooks screwed into the beams of their meeting hut and the nets had the added benefit of dividing the space in two so they could proceed with their work or hold their meetings while the other side of the hut was used for ARP and other purposes, including weighing babies. Members of Bickleigh WI near Plymouth offered to make small nets for camouflage which used string rather than the twine employed for the larger nets. Dealing with the twine was hard on
the hands so the Ministry of Supply sent pots of hand cream to the WI and WVS volunteers. Miss Walker, who was responsible for overseeing volunteers making potato baskets for farmers, wrote to Miss Farrer complaining that her women’s hands were just as raw as those of the garnishers and netters and she hoped they would be able to get some extra cream. Unfortunately the baskets were made for a different ministry, one that did not consider the skin on volunteers’ hands of sufficient importance to supply hand cream.