A Cove memory of WW2. During this time many similar acts of kindness were going on in Cove village. Some, just a borrowed cup of sugar, repaid as soon as able, always in the same sized cup, tapped down and levelled across the top with a piece of paper. This only goes to show how precious food was at the time. Many a village wedding dress was passed on, let out or taken in, but like new to each wartime bride. There is a little story of kindness recalled here by one of the daughters of the Nicks family who lived in Cove Road opposite Moores Bakery. Being a family holding six ration books their mother was able to buy a reasonable sized joint of meat each week from Webbs the butchers by the Methodist Chapel. On this day she went next to the greengrocers, Mrs Stubbings in Bridge Road (now Mitchell and Partners, estate agents). This lady lived on her own above the shop and in conversation just happened to remark on how she longed for the day when she would again be able to buy a roasting joint, completely out of the question with only one ration book. Mrs Nicks, a kindly but impulsive lady, persuaded Mrs Stubbings to take the joint in exchange for her one chop. The she wondered all the way home how to feed her family over the weekend. Fortunately the story has a happy ending. To the rescue comes Mrs ‘Fred’ Yeomans, living at the nearby builders yard, now Jewsons, who had received a gift of a large box of ‘off the ration’ fish and asked if Mrs Nicks would help out by accepting some. This was in the days before fridges. A very satisfactory ending for Sunday lunch and three happy ladies. Finally, here in Cove the ending of the war saw what can only be described as corporate act of kindness. Many local couples, some with young families, were coming back to their home village, wanting a place to live but because of a lack of affordable rented accommodation, faced the prospect of continued sharing with the ‘in laws’. Within a few short months our local council came to the rescue by putting up 100 ‘prefabs’ on the open fields at the top of Cody Road. What a blessing these were to the new tenants, who could now enjoy their own good-sized living room and kitchen plus two bedrooms and the then luxury of a bathroom with hot and cold running water. No more tin bath by the kitchen fire, the norm in most Cove homes. Even in the 300 Rafborough homes the bath shared a kitchen with sink and gas stove. A short two weeks after ‘de-mob’ saw my wife, I and baby son Peter installed in one of these new luxury pre-fab homes. Furnishing was the next problem, for like everything else it was rationed, purchased only by coupons or dockets. This meant a day’s outing to Guildford, making our choice from the limited range of ‘Utility’ kite marked furniture in Perrins store. It’s amazing how long this sturdy furniture lasted — some items might still be in daily use in homes to this day. Some of these acts of kindness were by just one person, some by whole towns or cities. Here is one such combined act, a ‘thank you’ by hundreds of wives, mothers and daughters, of Canadian troops stationed in this area during the war. Many of the big houses in Farnborough and Cove became billets for soldiers during the hostilities. One, Knellwood in Canterbury Road because of its spacious and palatial appearance, spent most of the war years as an Officers Mess for different units of the Canadian Army. After the war Knellwood as a residential home for the elderly, replaced the Cottage Hospital as the Farnborough and Cove Memorial to those lost in two wars. Proudly displayed on one of the beds was a large patchwork quilt. In each of its many squares was embroidered the name and address of a different Canadian family, their way of saying ‘Thank You’ for the hospitality shown by local folk to Canadian boys overseas.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:10:27 +0000
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