Christmas for many is a time of mixed emotions. While there is a general feeling of happiness and goodwill, for some families there is pain and separation or the memories of loved ones no longer with us. That was certainly the case for many in World War Two. Great efforts were made to make it a joyous occasion, especially for the children, including those away from their own parents as evacuees, but it was also a time of sadness as news of the death of a loved one arrived with the dreaded telegram.
That is easily demonstrated by a look at the Christmas of 1943 for the town of Penzance. There were great celebrations especially for the children. On the Saturday before Christmas about 1200 infant school children were entertained to jolly parties by American service personnel who were based in west Cornwall. Many of the troops had forgone their sweet ration for December in order to provide ‘candy’ for the children at their Christmas party. There was also food, the likes of which young eyes hadn’t seen – jelly, real ice cream, blancmange, cookies, doughnuts! There was also brightly decorated Christmas trees and the visit of the man in red - Father Christmas himself!
70 poor children were treated to a tea at the British Restaurant in Penzance by the trustees of the Dugdale Charity. The charity was set up in 1916 on the death of Fred Dugdale who left a sum of money to be invested and the interest used to provide meals at various occasions through the year for poor children aged under 10 in Penzance. Evacuated mothers and their children in Penzance were treated to a party on New Year’s Day at the Penmorvah Hostel in Alexandra Road funded by the London County Council. With limited space the party-goers had to sit down to tea in relays!
For the adults there was music and dancing such as the Celebrity Concert on Friday 10th December at the St John’s Hall starring Phyllis Sellick, a well known pianist from the Queen’s Hall who regularly appeared on the BBC wireless, along with Trefor Jones, the tenor from the Royal Opera House, also a regular performer for the BBC and Kathleen Frazier, a well known accompanist for the BBC. In the afternoon concert the stars were joined by the Pendeen Male Voice Choir under conductor RJ Maddern Williams and in the evening concert by the Mousehole Male Voice Choir under conductor JC Potter. It was all in aid of the Mayor’s Red Cross Prisoner of War Fund.
On the same night, Friday 10th December, there was a ‘Grand Dance’ at the Winter Gardens from 8pm until midnight with a special visit from a well known Army Dance Band. Tickets were three shillings (15p). Profits went to boost the Christmas Comforts Fund for the West Cornwall Hospital.
At the Ritz Cinema showing on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day were several showings of two films: Something To Sing About – a 1937 film that showcased James Cagney’s singing and dancing talents alongside Evelyn Daw and After Midnight – part of the Boston Blackie film series which saw Chester Morris play a criminal turned detective alongside wartime pin-up blonde Ann Savage (who died on Christmas Day 2008).
For one family in New Street, Penzance Christmas was an anxious time as they had just received news that Private Stanley Nicholls, age 23, a well known Penzance rugby player, was posted as “Missing” in the Middle East. As he is not listed in the Penzance Book of Remembrance one presumes he survived the war and was perhaps taken prisoner in late 1943.
The news in Green Street, Newlyn, was not so good. Ruby Tonkin heard that her husband Private Charlie Tonkin, age 27, had died on Tuesday 30th November from his wounds received during a battle near Monte Cassino earlier in November. He was in the 7th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 167th Brigade, 56th Division. He died in Algeria from wounds received during the Battle of Monte Camino, southwest of Cassino, Italy, which took place over the period 11th to 13th November 1943. He was a Member of St John Ambulance in Penzance and was the son of Philip and Dorothy Tonkin of 27 Leskinnick Terrace, Penzance. He was interred in Dely Ibrahim War Cemetery in Algiers, Algeria.
Not all wartime casualties occurred so far from home. Private Albert Leslie Waters, age 32, of the Royal Army Supply Corps, was killed in a crash on the Bodmin-Liskeard road on the notorious bends just up the hill from Bodmin Road Station on Christmas Eve, Friday 24th December. He was travelling in a British lorry driven by Private Thomas Hatter with a NAAFI canteen manager, a civilian, sat in the front passenger seat. Pte Waters was standing with Private Thomson in the back of the lorry holding on to the side and overhead portions of the superstructure. There was a sudden jolt and Private Thomson was thrown to his knees. When he looked round for Private Waters he was no longer in the truck. He was found lying in the road seriously injured from a lorry wheel having gone over his stomach region.
The jolt had been caused by an American left-hand drive lorry that was travelling down the hill, had taken the bend too fast and was over the white line which had missed the cab of the British lorry thanks to Private Hatter swerving towards the hedge but had caught the rear of the lorry, denting it, ripping its tarpaulin, throwing Private Waters out onto the road and under the American truck's rear wheel. He was rushed to the Bodmin Emergency Hospital, housed in the Kendall Building of St Lawrence’s, where he was admitted at 1pm, but died fifteen minutes later from the serious internal injuries. He had been attached to the Gordon Highlanders at the time of the incident. He was a market gardener before the war and left a widow, Dorothy Emmeline Waters, at 31 Polweath Road, Treneere, Penzance.
At the inquest Corporal George Vernon Martin of the US Army was represented by Pethybridges of Bodmin while Nalder & Sons of Truro represented the British Army. Evidence was heard that Corporal Martin was heading empty back to Plymouth over a stretch of road he had never driven before. His lorry speed was estimated to be 30 mph with no evidence on the road of the brakes having been applied. The British lorry was doing 15 mph before its emergency stop. A verdict of accidental death was recorded by Mr EW Gill, District Coroner, at Bodmin. But a road traffic accident on a stretch of road that has seen numerous fatalities in the 80 years since despite the bend being improved and widened over the years provided one Penzance family with great sadness and loss on Christmas Eve 1943.
Once again as we survey the scene this Christmas in 2024 there is a mix of hardship, sadness, death and loss, amidst the efforts to create a time of happiness and festivity, especially for the children, as many face hardships, not from shortages and rationing, but from rising bills and taxes. War rages again on the continent of Europe and in the Middle East in a conflict that threatens to draw in many more belligerents, with some commentators proclaiming that World War Three has actually begun. Sadly it brings news of loss of life, even among those from Britain who have gone to help defend Ukraine. There will also be several empty seats this year at the Christmas table for the families who have lost loved ones in the carnage on Cornwall’s roads this year.
Yet, there is an element of the mix of joy and sadness that has permeated Christmas right from the very first one in Bethlehem all those centuries ago. Caesar had just issued a decree that the entire Roman world was to be registered for tax purposes – increased Imperial tax was on the way. A paranoid despot was wreaking havoc among the civilian population by ordering that innocent children be put to the slaughter. However, he missed his target as the baby Jesus had been taken by his parents fleeing as refugees over international borders into Egypt. But such was the world into which the Prince of Peace, the Babe of Bethlehem, was born. He was given the name Jesus because He would save His people from their sins – something He made possible 33 years later when He died on the cross outside the city of Jerusalem taking the punishment for our sin. So in 2024 if we look to Him, in the words of the carol ‘where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in’. On receiving Christ as Saviour, in the midst of the turmoil of our modern world, we can know the reality of Emmanuel – God with us.
In 1943 the churches across Penzance were full at Christmas. The local press reported large congregations both on the Sunday before Christmas and over the Christmas weekend. The Paul Players put on a Nativity Play, produced by Mrs Wagner, the wife of the vicar, that played several times to packed audiences while the performance of parts of Handel’s Messiah by choirs from Pendeen and St Just conducted by Mr Maddern Williams in the St John’s Hall was well received by capacity audiences. They were scenes that were repeated in church and chapel, in town and village, right across Cornwall at Christmas 1943. Perhaps the people of that wartime generation, often referred to as ‘the greatest generation’, understood something of the true meaning of Christmas even in the midst of hardship, suffering and war. Maybe this year, we would do well to take a leaf out of their book and find a carol service at our local church or chapel and put in an appearance. It might just help put things into perspective and create one of the more meaningful and joyful memories of Christmas.
May I wish you and your family a blessed and peaceful Christmas.
Yorumlar