Drakelow Unearthed
Extras
Pages 6 & 7 - Hostels

On page 6 I refer to the local rumours of the factory hostel being used to house 'displaced persons' after the war. In fact I have recently been contacted by Margaret from Australia. She and her family (father, mother and brother) were housed, with many other families in the Blakeshall Hostel when they returned from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in 1946. Her memories of the hostel are as follows: "My father had been in the Shanghai Municipal Police and then we were all put into a Jap POW camp in 1942 until 46. We were then shipped back to the UK. I am not quite sure why we were there, as we had grandparents in Gt Malvern. I do remember staying there when we came back from Shanghai, then we went to Blakeshall. I was about 7 and my brother John about 5.
There was a community hall which had the local newspapers. In the hostel itself there was a canteen, which served all meals to the people living in the hostel. There was a sick bay with a nurse. I remember this for a fact, as I had to have a kipper bone removed from a tonsil, by the nurse using tweezers! All of us kids had mumps, whooping cough, chickenpox and measles whilst there. I think there were 2 families to each Nissan hut, but where the bathroom was I cannot recall. 1947's winter was very cold. I remember taboganning down a nearby slope on a tin tray. Wonder how he kept warm? I used to visit a girl who I think lived in a 2 or 3 storey house (farm?) close by. I was very envious of her dolls house and minature tea set. I remember two other families, one was a Dutch Indonesian family, mother father and three kids; another family consisted of father (widower) with 2 sons, they are the boys with my brother in one of the photos. I recall that there were other families there also ex Shanghai municipal police. I used to be sent out for blackmarket eggs from a lady close by. I carried the eggs in a covered enamel bowl back to our hut. I guess so no one could see the eggs. People used to cook in their huts, what on I don't know, but it was against the rules, as food was served in the canteen. I saw my first firework display one 5th November at the Hostel, l remember very well the rockets and the catherine wheels!"

	John Woodley with Peter & Brian Butterfield near to the hostel entrance. 1946-48.
	"The photo of me as a butterfly was taken on the stage at Blakeshall. I was a minute part of a concert which was put on at some stage. It must have been an annual show for the residents. I was only 6 or 7 at the time. I do remember that there seemed to be a lot of people from China there, not so much Chinese as ex pats who must have been working, and then were interned by the Japanese during the war. This was the case with my parents and my brother and myself. It seems that my parents seem to know quite a few people." Margaret Woodley

Thanks to Margaret for sharing your memories and photos with us. We now have another small piece of the jigsaw

Unused background and incidental pics
Page 35 extras

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