 | ||||
In 1939 the Second World War started and the village closed down for it.
The Jonathan Labray School was closed to become a food storage hut.
Food was brought in containers and stacked in the classrooms and through that first year of the war, evacuees came from London and stayed in the school until they could be found a home within the village.
To look after these evacuees people were given 12/6d (60p approx.) per each
one. In Calverton the effect of the war was not felt like it was felt in the towns.
We had local farms that produced food; potatoes were grown on the
roadside, on the verge side. There were allotments, where food was produced.
At Labray School the field was dug up and each boy had a plot where he could
grow food. People kept pigs and pig food could be bought at the local
Co-op. This was bran and husk from the flour mills, but the pigs didn't mind
Well there was a bread ration after all.
As the War progressed, Calverton House, which was the largest house in the
village, was taken over by the Army. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry came with
their horses and took over the buildings and the stables and the soldiers came
to the village, youngsters loved it. It was a time to admire these men in
uniform and their horses and vehicles. These men often gave out memorabilia,
in the form of buttons and badges to the villagers. Sadly these soldiers were
soon posted to North Africa. One or two of them actually married
here and indeed their descendants are still here.
Nottingham's very own Raleigh factory was building Spitfires
during the conflict, so the city was very much a strategic target
for the German's. Also Boots the Chemists were making gas masks
and John Players, although tobacco was short, were still providin
g cigarettes for servicemen. When Nottingham was bombed a
string of firebombs fell across Calverton and its surrounding villages.
The greenhouses in Lambley, which is now Floraland, were painted
black and the German bombers were attracted to them thinking it
was the Raleigh factory. After the soldiers came the Women's Land
Army. They worked in the fields, on the farms and the woods.
Fox Wood was cut down by the lumber 'Jills', these were a forestry division of the WLA. Fox Wood was raised in the 1940's for home grown timber. A travelling cinema came with the Land Girls. Films of newsreels, films from America were shown regularly. Occasionally the villagers got more involved in the War, aircraft which were coming home from bombing raids crashed. A Polish aircraft crashed near Salterford . The memorial was built to them after the war.
A Wellington Bomber, like the one above, settled down on the hillside, which is now the Springwater Golf Club, luckily all of the men were rescued from it before it burst into flames.
Children leaving the big city for
the safety of the countryside
A Crusader tank of the RWY in North Africa
Adapted from 'Calverton - The Effects of the 20th Century on Village Life' By Christine Chamberlain
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
