Friday 22 March 2019

The WI in March


At big WI we found out all about journaling, I thought this was much like scrap-booking but I was wrong. It seems a bit more adventurous, using paints and making little books and envelopes to go inside the journal.



The lady had started journaling as a relaxation after retiring from primary school teaching. She bought several journals along, so we could see how she made them and she also brought a couple of others made by primary school children and members of the journaling group she runs at her house.

They looked interesting and would be a good way to use up all my craft stuff but  I don't think I have enough hours in the day unless I was to stop blogging!

Coffee and cakes as always were delicious.


At small  WI a lady came to talk to us about her father, now in his 90s he was a Bevin Boy during the war. She has done this talk many times so was very fluent.

He was a Suffolk boy born in a village near Hadleigh and had rarely left the county but when he was 18 in 1943 he was called up to be a miner. He'd been in the Army Cadets and had hoped to be called up for the Army but he was the 1 in 10 young men who went down the mines.

The government had failed to make mining a reserved occupation early in WWII so many young men who were miners left as soon as possible to join up ........although mining might have been a family tradition for decades there were not many people who actually loved the job. Of course after a few years of war and older miners retired there was a huge need for coal to keep factories running and a drastic shortage of miners, hence the ballot where 1 in every 10 men were ordered to serve as miners. There was no getting out of it what ever your background or class and it must have been a huge shock for so many 18 year olds.

Her father was sent off to the the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border collieries where they had 4 weeks training before starting work underground in the awful conditions of the time.

One of the sad things about these men was that their war work was never recognised. They were civilians and had no uniform, so when on leave were often shouted at for not doing their bit for the war effort. The pay was bad, less than the equivalent for the armed forces. After war ended they were not allowed to leave the mines for another 2 or 3 years, there was no organisation to recognise their work, the British Legion wanted nothing to do with them as they weren't in uniform and when mining was Nationalised all the records were destroyed. For 50 years they campaigned to be allowed  to parade at the Remembrance Day Cenotaph service and were finally allowed just a few years ago. There was also no memorial to those who had died while working in the pits but this too has recently been rectified and is part of the National Memorial Arboretum.

Memorial


The speaker had thought about writing a book about her father but decided instead to spread the word through talking to groups. There are only a few Bevin Boys still alive, all in their 90's but the Association carries on, to collect and store information and to keep the memories of these young men alive.

In 1943 this country faced a crisis in coal production as there was only three weeks of coal stock available. This put the country’s ability to win the Second World War in jeopardy.
The then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, charged Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour and National Service to increase coal production.
Mr Bevin decided that from all 18 to 24 year old men conscripts drafted to serve in the armed forces one in ten were to be directed – on pain of imprisonment and irrespective of background or ability - to work underground in British coal mines.
Approximately 48,000 Bevin Boys (as they came to be known) undertook unskilled manual jobs to release more experienced miners to move on to coal production at the coal face.
The role played by Bevin Boys should not be lost to history



There is much more about The Bevin Boys HERE

 It was a fascinating talk followed by coffee and cakes again.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

26 comments:

  1. Conscientious objectors were sent to the mines so unfortunately the Bevin boys got labelled along with them. Eric Morecambe was a Bevin boy and many more like him. Your speaker sounds like she was rather bitter about it all.

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    1. Apparently is a common misconception that conscientious objectors were sent to the mines... actually very few were.That horrible Jimmy Saville always said he was a Bevin Boy but they don't think he was.

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    2. Yes that is so about the conscientious objectors but the few that were sent got the rest labelled.

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    3. Even the mining families they lodged with treated them badly. I wonder if there were any happy stories from the Bevin boys. There must have been some.

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  2. I didn't know any of this. What a tragedy their crucial contribution wasn't recognised and rewarded as it should have been.
    xx

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    1. Yes and there were several other groups of war workers also not given recognition for their work

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  3. People in mining areas were well aware of Bevin Boys and gave them due recognition. Not all went home after the war. When my husband began working in the industry in North Staffordshire in the 70s he worked alongside a few.

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  4. wow - i never knew they were conscripted. i wonder what they felt themselves about being the '1 in 10'. interesting.

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  5. Thanks for another really interesting post today, Sue. My father was a steelworker and spent five years in the Royal Navy. Not long after he went, the steelworks became a reserved occupation as there were too many young men gone to the forces. I enjoy journalling and do it periodically when I feel the urge to be creative in a slightly messy way.

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  6. That was an interesting post - my grandad was in the steelworks in Sheffield and grandma, who was a tailoress by trade, chose to work on the trams as a conductress during the war. The pits around the area were more over to Rotherham and Barnsley.
    I don't get to Journal as much since starting my blog but I use it more to record events and things I want to remember and when I have any issues to work through that I wouldn't want to tell the world about!- it is my private space to escape to. In the back I will stick photos of people getting married that year or to remember someone who has died - or been born.

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  7. I don't have any association with the Bevin Boys, but have read about them before.

    I have four journals on the go at once. The main one is my diary which I write in religiously during the day, the others are for different topics. I enjoy writing in them and with the one I am doing for my daughter I sketch little drawings pertaining to the subject which, I feel, makes it more interesting.

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  8. 'Journaling' made me think of 'Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady', the best seller of a few decades ago.

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  9. Thanks for that bit of history. Glad to hear that they are finally recognized for their service, though too late for many of them.

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  10. Thanks for posting this Sue and it was very interesting. I didn't know where the term "Bevin Boys" had come from. How tragic that they weren't recognized for their service at the time.

    I'm hopeless at blogs and journals. I keep thinking I'd like to do one and then after a couple of posts I end up deleting the blog because I never seem to have time to keep it up, and the journal ends up as a notebook. I wish I could commit to it as I love to read other folks blogs.

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  11. Very interesting. It's good they have been a bit more recognised recently.

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  12. All this about the Bevin boys made me feel very old Sue as i remember them well - fantastic men as was Ernie from whom their name was taken.

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  13. You never fail to teach me something Sue. I was unaware of the Bevin Boys and the sad situation surrounding them. It is good they are finally getting some long deserved recognition but sad it did not come sooner.

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  14. What an interesting post, sad that all there hard work wasn't recognised for so many years. Hopefully over time this is been rectified.

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  15. Sounds exactly like Slavery to me.

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  16. I first heard about the Bevin Boys when watching a UK reality show on YouTube - it was about families living as mining families did during the Depression and into the War - must have been a real shock to most of them. It's good that they are finally being recognized.
    I have read about journalling and seen some beautiful examples - but honestly, I'd never have the time nor the patience!

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  17. Thanks for sharing this bit of history with us. I had never heard of this before.

    My journals leave a great deal to be desired. Sometimes I go weeks without writing anything.

    God bless.

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  18. Thanks for sharing this. I didn't know much about the Bevin Boys, even The Coal House series only touched on the subject a little bit.

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  19. I've heard of the Bevin Boys but never knew their story. What an awful shock to be sent down the mines when they were expecting to join the Forces defending their country. Thank you for this information, Sue.

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