Lucy Harrison
When the Second World War broke out in 1939 I was living in Leigh-On-Sea alongside the River Thames in Essex. On June 2nd 1940 (I was 10 years old) all of the children in that area were evacuated. When we waved goodbye to our parents outside our school we had no idea when we would see them again or where we were going.
We were only allowed to take a change of clothes, our gas masks and sandwiches – no drinks. We also had a label round our necks with our name on.
My brother and I were very fortunate with our foster parents. We lived next door to each other in cottages in Bradbourne, Derbyshire. I can remember the German bombers going over Leigh-On-Sea to bomb London.
Yvonne Grimbly (L’enfant)
Fred’s Story
On the nights of 23rd and 24th August 1943 a Halifax heavy British bomber set off from 78 Squadron RAF Breighton near York to bomb Berlin along with hundreds of other bombers from its own and other squadrons.
On the way one of the four engines malfunctioned but the crew decided as one to continue their mission with 3 engines.
On arrival at Berlin the whole city was ablaze and there was no hiding place from the German night fighters and the radar controlled AA guns especially at only 9000 feet.
Despite many aerial encounters the crew carried out their mission and started to return home.
Over the Dutch coast a night fighter bomber a Junker 88 attacked them but was shot down by the Halifax. The Halifax continued over the North Sea however with a second engine failure on the same side. The plane crashed into the sea 64 miles from Cromer. Only four of the crew were thrown clear and the rest went down into the depths with the plane. Sixteen hours later the four were rescued but only one, the mid-upper gunner, survived. My father was one of those who later died in the rescue boat – he was the oldest of the crew at 29 years of age.
This story was all too common and typical – almost 1 in 2 RAF personnel were killed.
Like most young men he didn’t think that he would be an unlucky one; and despite the Squadron padre’s exhortations my father did not inform my mother that he was on open active service. My mother had thought my father was still in training as a navigator but he didn’t want to worry her as I was only 11 months old.
Obviously, when she received the official ‘killed in action’ telegram from the RAF the shock was profound, and the effects remained with her all her life. She never remarried and raised me as a single parent.
My mother saved their wartime letters which were very romantic and touching. One such letter revealed that my father had played tennis for the squadron against Fred Perry, the Wimbledon champion, and won! He wrote of watching films that made him more home sick, of missing me and of her having to work with old fogies!
Many families experienced such losses at that time, but it would have been nice to at least have heard my father’s voice, just once.
By Michael Rowen
John Edward Thomas, known as Jack to his friends and family, enlisted with the Territorial Army just after his 17th birthday in 1935. He attended a training camp at Redcar in 1936.
Jack was called up a year before war broke out despite having a reserved occupation with the railway. He spent the war in Tripoli, Egypt and Aden. At the end of the war he was pleased to hear he had a home posting but was very disappointed to find out it was to Northern Ireland.
When Jack eventually returned to Derby, life was anything but peaceful. He had to fight to regain his old job at the railway and his marriage ended as his wife had an affair with a soldier whilst Jack was away.
Later Jack met and married my mother, Joan, and they were happily married for many years.
By John Thomas
In December 1939 Alan Alfred Whitehead married his childhood sweetheart Beryl Violet Whitehead. Five months later, in May 1940, Alan was “called up”. He wanted to join the Navy but he was told that because of his Grammar School education and his ability to drive a car he should join the Tank Corp. After demonstrating his patient manner and impressive driving skills he was asked to be a driving instructor and became a Corporal in the Training Regiment training Tank Corps recruits at Farnborough.
In 1942, whilst demonstrating schedules to visiting Officers, Alan let it slip that he had done the planning for the event, not his Captain. His Captain overheard this comment and ordered an instant transfer for Alan. The next day Alan was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and posted to Sandhurst to train Officers - his Captain was not impressed.
At Sandhurst, Officer Cadets were addressed as “Sir” and the Training Sergeants were addressed as “Staff”. Gunnery practise took place on Salisbury Plain. One of Alan’s jobs was to collect the empty shell cases at the end of the days firing practise. On one occasion a shell had miss fired and as the Sergeants were loading it onto the truck it exploded. Alan sustained injuries from shrapnel in his arm and his colleague sustained a broken leg. Alan spent the night in a nearby American Army hospital. The shrapnel was removed and Alan commented that he “didn’t feel a thing!”
Every week at Sandhurst there was a passing out parade for the Cadets and dignitaries often attended to watch displays and demonstrations of the equipment. These dignitaries included Churchill, Princess Elizabeth, Eisenhower and Montgomery. On one occasion, when Montgomery was visiting, Alan took the role of Instructor and some of his Sergeant colleagues pretended to be Cadets, to ensure that they put on a good show. Unfortunately, Monty saw through it and said; “Good show, but you couldn’t do that with real Cadets.”
Alan stayed at Sandhurst training Tank Corps Cadets for the remainder of the Second World War.
In later life Alan spoke about the desire he’d had as a young man to be a Priest in the Church of England but, he said, the war got in the way. When he returned home to his wife Beryl and their young son, Brian, he discovered that Beryl was struggling with nervousness and depression. She had found it stressful being a young mother with her husband away.
Realising that Beryl was struggling Alan put his vocation to the Priesthood to one side and took a job with the Co-op and ended up as Secretary of the North East Cooperative Society and was joint leader with the General Manager.
Alan spoke about sometimes feeling embarrassed that he hadn’t been a “proper soldier”. Although he took great pride in his role training Cadets, but he was well aware that many of them would never return home again once they had passed out and left Sandhurst to fight on foreign shores.
On Remembrance Sunday, 2011 Alan’s grandson had a chance meeting with a man who had been in the Tank Corps and remembered being trained by Alan on Salisbury Plain. Although the two old Tank Drivers never met, they were both pleased to hear stories about each other after so many years.
Alan’s life changed when he was called up to serve his King and Country in the Second World War. He sacrificed his vocation to the Priesthood to deal with the effects of war on his wife - and he did a good job - blessed with good physical health, Alan and Beryl celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary in December 2009.
Throughout his life Alan remained devoted to his family and to the Church of England. Although he never achieved his own dream to be ordained his son Brian is a Lay Reader in Durham Diocese and his Grand-daughter (in-law) is an ordained Priest in Derby Diocese.
R.I.P. Sergeant Alan Alfred Whitehead; Tank Driving Instructor, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and ALWAYS a Priest at heart.
By Chris Whitehead
Contact details for our local Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG) representative:
Liam Whelan
Email: liam.whelan@ecclesiastical.com
Tel:01242 587742
Mobile:07827 831125
This site is provided by the church of England's National Stewardship and Resources team and offers over 400 pages of resources (web and PDF) to support all aspects of finance, accounting and reporting, stewardship, administration and management in the local church, as well as links to other sites and pages of interest.
The Board of Finance has negotiated a block membership for all PCC Treasurers. Please contact the Finance Office at Derby Church House for details
Available to download from here http://www.parishresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/PCC-Accountability-5th-Edition.pdf
Many people, lay and ordained, now recognise that it can be helpful to have someone alongside them on their pilgrimage, someone who has the gift of listening creatively to others and who offers a safe place of acceptance and encouragement.
Sometimes this need grows out of a fruitful experience on retreat.
Often it can be at a time of crisis, when old patterns are disturbed or when we feel an urge to take seriously our quest for meaning in life and we want to go deeper into our journey of faith.
Maybe we want help with our prayer life or to test a particular calling. Maybe we are finding it difficult to deal with events or relationships in our life.
This can be a chance to reflect on what has been happening and to put things in perspective.
This is called ‘Spiritual Direction’ or ‘Spiritual Companionship’, but other terms such as ‘Soul Friend’ (from the Celtic tradition) are used.
It is available to all who wish to see more clearly where God is at work in their lives.
Become a spiritual accompanier
Applications are now open until mid-December for the next experiential Art of Spiritual Accompaniment course, which begins in March 2022 for both lay and ordained people, exploring listening, prayer and discernment seeking to determine whether God might be calling them to the ministry of accompanying others in their spiritual journey.
It consists of four face-to-face Saturdays and 11 evening Zoom sessions which include space and silence, an exploration of different ways of praying, practical listening skills in triads, reflection time in small groups and teaching about spiritual traditions and good practice.
For more information, please contact nicky.fenton@bishopofderby.org
What happens?
Most people see their Spiritual Companion once every four to twelve weeks.
It may be a long-term relationship or for a limited period. There are no rules about this.
The meeting has a sacramental nature, for God uses it as a channel for grace.
It calls for a sense of trust, confidentiality and for openness from both, in the knowledge that the meeting takes place in the presence of God.
The purpose is to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the direction.
Suggestions may be offered of ways to pray, ideas for helpful reading, as well as practical suggestions relating to life choices, but the final decisions are always left in the hands of the person seeking guidance.
How do you find someone?
In the Diocese of Derby we have a list of people of different traditions and backgrounds who offer this service and two Portfolio Holders in Spiritual Direction who will help you to find the right person.
The choice of a companion is likely to have important consequences in your life.
For this reason you might be invited to come for an informal meeting with one of them, so that they could talk with you about your expectations and ‘get a feel’ for the sort of person you would hope for.
To access a spiritual director, please contact:
Revd Nicky Fenton - nicky.fenton@derby.anglican.org
See also: Spirituality index
