Celebrating on VE Day

Life in Danehill During WW2
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2 we are re-publishing the booklet produced by DPHS in the 1970s. It is a long document at 40 pages so we have picked out some of the highlights for you. The complete document, however, is available below. Some of the highlights are written by the people living in Danehill through the war and paint a stunning picture of the upheaval felt by ordinary people. There are fascinating insights from a young woman, especially the arrival of so many fit, young soldiers from Canadians to Maories into her life. There are two accounts of life changing experiences from small children from the city parachuted into a rural landscape of scary cows, aerial dogfights, non-flushing toilets down the garden and actually being allowed to walk on the grass!

There is also  articles by Jill Rolfe on the truly massive radio transmitter built on Ashdown Forest to enable Britain's wartime propaganda effort, and wartime recollections recorded by Joll from Alice Manklow, Heather Heath and Hylda Rawlings.

Highlights

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1. The Gathering Storm. Article by Derek Rawlings on the period of time leading up to the declaration of war. Preparations began as early as early as 1935 and gas masks were issued in 1937

2. From the Parish Mag Extracts, compiled by Phil Lucas, from magazines just prior to the war give insight to what people faced

3. Parish at War Article by Derek Rawlings takes us through from the early ‘phoney’ war, evacuees coming into but also going out of the village, blackouts, food rations and First Aid training. Later dogfights in the sky above, bomb damage, Home Guard, V1 flying bombs, POWs and VE Day.

4. Home Guard . Eye witness reports from those who were there.

5 .Recollections of Evacuees. Margery Lucas tells us about her evacuation at the age of eight and Kathleen Wheeler age two, as well as some recollections of school life
6 Alberta James recalls wartime life as a young woman in Danehill

7  Local Men Lost Short Histories of those who did not return.
8 The Full Document. This is a big file and will take a while to load.
9. Britain's wartime propaganda  effort; the transmitter at King's Standing. Harold Robins and Sefton Delmar the masterminds behind the project.
10. Wartime memories of parishioners, Hylda Rawlings, Alice Manklow, and Heather Heath. A Jill Rolfe special
11. Oral interview with Hylda Rawlings  conducted by the Rev Paddy McBain