Amidst Cheers, They Marched to War

During the research for my last book, Preston on Stour: A Two Thousand Year History, I came across dozens of stories of people who had served on the frontline in many conflicts, and many more of people who had done sterling work on the home front. This became the subject of my new book.

Amidst Cheers, They Marched to War tells the stories of the Warwickshire villages of Preston on Stour, Atherstone on Stour, Whitchurch and Alderminster, and the impact of a hundred years of warfare on their communities.

Their men lie in graves in France, India, Iraq, Burma, South Africa and many other places besides. Some are remembered in perpetuity. Others are not.
None of those touched by war returned home the same. Physically and emotionally, their lives were changed forever, for better or for worse.

RAF Atherstone on Stour was built as a bomber training airfield during the Second World War. Several thousand aircrews were trained on this site. Many were just eighteen or nineteen, away from home for the first time. For many, their home was Canada. They had volunteered to aid Britain in their fight against the Nazis.
44% of bomber crews didn't survive the war. Training accidents and the endless gauntlet of missions over occupied Europe claimed endless lives. This book is a testimonial of those who served at RAF Atherstone.

This book is a tribute to all those who have served in the armed forces and all those whose lives have been touched by war.

Available online Here
Or contact Hannah on lightonecandle339@gmail.com

Day 100. Bare Bones

These bone fragments have all been found associated with the Romano-British community discussed over the past few days. They probably came from livestock reared  and slaughtered by this community.

Two thousand years ago, these people gathered around a fire and feasted on the fruits of their year's toil. Late autumn was the traditional time for slaughtering all livestock too weak to last the winter. And a final feast was held before the struggles of winter began. 

Our long-ago forebears laughed and chatted over a drink and roasted meat, and reinforced the bonds that would enable them to survive through the winter months. Friendship and community spirit epitomised this early culture. Life was hard, and without these bonds the settlement would crumble.

 

The discarded bones lay in the soil for hundreds of years. Above them, the descendants of that early community continued to plough and reap and sow as the seasons passed. And so they reached today.

The bones were brought to the surface by people from the village they helped forge, two thousand years earlier. And in that time, human nature hasn't changed. Community and friendship are valued as much today as they were in the distant past. We share a common bond with those first inhabitants, formed by more than the village we have all shared. The past has forged the present in more ways than one.

And this concludes these hundred days of history. If you've enjoyed reading these pages, Preston on Stour: A Two Thousand Year History, is available to order from bookshops or online, or contact me on lightonecandle339@gmail.com

 

Day 99. The Mill Stone

This mill stone stands by the church gate on the village green. How it came to be there is a mystery, but it has been in this location for at least a hundred years. Local historian and vicar  Harvey Bloom wrote in the early 20th century that it was part of a cider mill. The stones were used to crush apples and the juice was collected and fermented into cider.
It may have belonged to a communal mill or large scale enterprise rather than a single farmstead, considering its size. Documentary evidence of a cider house in Preston exists from the 18th century. Perhaps when this fell into disuse, the stone was moved to the church gate, and it has remained ever since.

Day 98. The Church Bells

                  

                            Preston's bells.

 

The church tower, showing the door and windows for the bell chamber.

 

Preston church has three bells. The bell chamber is reached via the steps on the outside of the tower, and then by a spiral staircase. Each of the bells has its own inscription:

Prosperity to this place. A.R. [Anna Regina, the Queen] 1713

Cum iuncundissima voce prosequor [I proceed with a most pleasing voice] Henry Bagley 1635.           

Henry Baglee made mee 1653.

Bell-ringing has attracted a long succession of loyal followers. In the late 19^th century, the bell-ringers, along with the village choir (see Day 97), were entertained to supper every Boxing Day in the servants' hall of Alscot Park. 

Bell-ringing was a gruelling job. There were often three Sunday services as well as weddings, christenings and funerals. In the 1940s, Denis Maton, Tony Ashfield and Tom Walton  were the regular ringers. Then Bob Stredder, a skilled bell-ringer who had recently moved to the village, began to teach more young men to ring the bells. John Horseman, Derrick Ashfield and George Nason began to 'learn the ropes'.  George remained a regular ringer for nearly fifty years. The bells still have a regular following of ringers today.

Day 97. The Organ

Music was once a key part of religious worship, and organs commonly found in early churches.

Following the Civil War (1642-49) England was governed by a Puritan parliament. The Puritans believed that music was a distraction from divine worship and all organs were removed, often with great violence.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, religious ideals were altered again. Music was again permitted. To replace the long-desecrated organs, choirs were set up to lead the singing. They were often accompanied with home-fashioned musical instruments such as fiddles. The choir stalls in the chancel of Preston church date to  the mid 18^th century.

Preston had a thriving church choir in the late 19^th century, and this continued well into the mid 20^th century.  Mrs Olive West of Alscot Park was a trained singer and led the choir in the early 20^th century.

In 1895, James Roberts-West installed a new organ in the church at his own expense. Organs had been growing in popularity from the mid 19^th century, as communities or landowners gained the capital to purchase them. They were considered more respectable than the rustic choirs they were replacing. They were often unfavourably met by the local communities who loved their home-spun music, but the thoughts of Preston's community went undocumented.

The organ needed a supply of pumped air in order to produce a good sound. It was a boy's job to work the bellows during the service. The more enthusiastic the player, the more frantically he had to pump. The bellows were eventually replaced by an automatic system which is still used today.

Day 96. The Railing Stumps

 Several tombs in Preston's churchyard, generally those belonging to wealthier landowners, were once surrounded with iron railings. 

 

            Preston School was also once fronted with railings.

 

This is another relic of the Second World War. Britain was in desperate need of metal to make tanks, bullets and other armaments, and  a nationwide collection of all ironwork deemed unnecessary was instigated. This was all melted down for the war effort. A similar drive had taken place during the First World War –  the tracks of the obsolete tramway (see Day 17) were removed around 1914  – and now  the government officials returned with a more critical eye.

No scrap of metal was deemed too small. All the railings surrounding the graves in the churchyard were appropriated for the war effort, as were those outside the village school. They were never replaced. Just the forlorn stumps remain embedded in the stonework today.

Day 95. The Water Tower

By 1938, war considered inevitable. The Aerodromes Board began searching Britain for suitable sites to be used as military airfields. One of the 400 sites chosen was in Preston on Stour and Atherstone on Stour, and was eventually known as RAF Stratford. It was intended as a training base for the crews of Wellington bombers, and became operational in 1941.

Around 1600  from the RAF, RCAF (Royal Canadian Airforce) and WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Airforce) were stationed on the site. Accommodation, medical facilities and amenities had to be installed as well as the hangars, runways and defence systems.

Water was supplied to the site by means of a lattice steel Braithwaite tower, 18 metres high. This fed water by gravity to the entire airfield. The tower is still present although the water tank on top has long since been removed. 

The airfield was operational as a military base until November 1945. The buildings and runways were gradually demolished and the land returned to agriculture. A few buildings remain; other features are betrayed by crop marks. But the water tower, visible for several miles around, remains a distinctive feature of the landscape.