Four
young men from our Village became prisoners of war, they were Cecil
Heaver, A.B. Russell, Jack Sharman and James Young. In August 1940 a
letter was received by Mrs D.C. Meager from Lady Violet Astor, the
Kent County Organiser for prisoners of war, asking if a regular
collection could be organised. This was done and a cheque for £28 7s
6d was dispatched. With this letter came the following information:-
Clothing for personal parcels for Prisoners of War
Next of kin must use their own coupons when buying
clothing and footwear for the quarterly personal parcels. These
coupons will be replaced from the ‘Packing Centre’ to which all
personal parcels are sent if the instructions are carried out.
1. A stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed
in the parcel.
2. A bill stating the number of coupons used for each
article must be
obtained from the shop and also
included in the
parcel.
3. Bills will not be returned to the sender.
The day’s food provided for our men in a
German prison camp.
Per day 10 ozs. Bread Tea
Breakfast ½ litre "ersatz
bread"
Lunch soup and potatoes
Tea soup and potatoes or meat and
potato mash,
tea or
"ersatz" coffee.
On Sunday jam and 2 ozs camembert
cheese.
At the beginning of 1942 the "Rural Pennies
Fund" was launched which was to cover food parcels, surgical and
medical supplies, books, games and musical instruments, text books
that prisoners might study, and actually examinations on accountancy,
banking etc. were arranged. Mrs D.C. Meager secured 9 collectors,
mostly teenagers, covering both Parishes and they did a splendid job.
Each month a cheque was dispatched. The school children under Miss
Davies (then Headmistress) collected £6.12s 8d. The
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Grand Total of the
Rural Pennies Fund when hostilities ceased was £312. 18s 7d. Special
efforts were organised for this fund amounted to £127 7s 5d. This
means that £468 13s 6d was collected from these two sparsely
populated Parishes for the war effort, apart from record figures for
"Flag Days" all of which were organised by Mrs D.C. Meager.
A letter of thanks for money raised for Rural
Pennies
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