From our District Councillor Peter Christie:
With all the news about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine I was reminded of two items in my recent book ‘Bideford in the Second World War’. The first is from November 1941 when the then Mayor supported ‘Mrs.Churchill’s Appeal’ for £750 towards her ‘Aid to Russia Fund’. In fact the town raised twice this amount and a bit later collected enough money to fund the ‘Bideford’ bed in Stalingrad Hospital following the siege of that city.
The second item was to be found at the old US Army base which used to stand where Blight’s Garage at Handy Cross is now. After the Americans left it became a German PoW camp and then a camp for ‘Displaced Persons’ from Europe – including a contingent of Ukrainians who worked on local farms. They painted their country’s coat-of-arms onto a cement base to record their time in Bideford.
Two historical links to a present day tragedy.
