January Floods by Maggie Brookes

On Boxing Day it was 20 years since the terrible tsunami in the Indian ocean. Remembering our shock on hearing about that disaster, which killed 230,000 people, started me thinking about floods which have happened nearer to home, all of which occurred in January. 

'A true report of certaine wonderfull ouerflowings of waters, now lately in Summerset-shire, Norfolke, and other places of England : destroying many thousands of men, women, and children, ouerthrowing and bearing downe whole townes and villages, and drowning infinite numbers of sheepe and other cattle' William Jaggard, 1607.

It was hardly an exaggeration. The great flood of the 20th Jan 1606 (or 30th January 1607 using the modern calendar) is thought by some to have been a tsunami, though others argue that it was a storm surge. At mid-day, a 'massive hill of sea'  swept up the Bristol channel and poured into the low-lying farmland of Somerset and Wales, killing an estimated 2,000 people. About 200 square miles of farmland were destroyed. Whole villages and much livestock (perhaps 'infinite numbers!') were swept away. Puritan pamphleteer William Jones described the scene:  'so violent and swift were the outragiouse waves, that ... in lesse then five houres ... many hundreds of people both men women, and children were then quite devoured.'  

Where they could, people climbed trees, ' Many there were which fled into the tops of high trees, and there were inforced to abide some three daies, some more, and some lesse, without any victuals at all, there suffring much colde besides many other calamities, and...through ever much hunger and cold, some of them fell down againe out of the Trees, and so were like to perish for want of succour...'

 '... Othersame, sate in the tops of high Trees as aforesaid, beholding their wives, children, and servants, swimming (remediles of all succour) in the Waters. Other some sitting in the tops of Trees might behold their houses overflowne with the waters. some their houses caryed quite away: and no signe or token left there of them.'

Plaque in Kingston Seamore Church, Somerset.

William Jones was certain that the flood was God's warning to his people of England to mend their ways, but the flood which carried away the Devon village of Hallsands on January 26th 1917 was a wholly man-made disaster.

Hallsands in 1885, before the flood

In the 1890's dredging for gravel and sand began off-shore to provide building materials for a new naval dockyard in Plymouth. By 1900 the level of the beach had fallen considerably, and the villagers petitioned their MP to get the dredging stopped. But the damage had been done, and when a great storm raged on the night of January 26th. Waves broke through doors and windows, waking the inhabitants. Imagine their terror as they leapt from their beds, gathered up their children, and set out to climb the cliffs behind the village in pitch darkness.

The remains of Hallsands village

Four houses had been swallowed by the sea by midnight. And the next day brought no respite, as another high tide washed away a further 25 houses, leaving only one standing. Nobody died, but 128 villagers were left homeless and without means of earning a living. Their claim for compensation took seven years.

The ruined village of Hallsands (sea level) 

It isn't only rural and coastal areas which have suffered from January floods. On 7 January 1928, thousands were made homeless when the Thames flooded in central London, pouring over the embankments, flooding the city from Greenwich and Woolwich right up to Hammersmith and Putney. This was caused by a mixture of nature and man-made interventions: a sudden thaw, a high spring tide, a storm surge and heavy rain all combined with dredging which had been carried out to deepen the Thames which created a funnel effect for the surging tide.

Tide level at Tate gallery.

Tube stations along the river filled up with water, the House of Commons was flooded, Turner paintings were damaged at the Tate gallery and the Tower of London moat filled up with water. 4,000 people were made homeless, though only 14 died. In a typically British way, mobile animal hospitals were set up for pets which had been injured in the floods. The slums and warehouses of Millbank were worst hit, and many were demolished and later replaced by office blocks.

Mobile animal hospital.

The worst January flood of modern times happened during the night of the 31st of January 1953 when the north sea storm tide killed more than 300 people down the East coast of England and Scotland, plus 224 lost at sea. This terrifying night-time flood was caused by a combination of a high tide with a storm, said to be the worst storm to hit Scotland for 500 years. It hit between Orkney and Shetland, then surged south, flowing over sea walls in 1,200 places, forcing 30,000 people from their homes. 58 people died when Canvey Island in Essex was flooded, 37 died at the seaside village of Jaywick, and 41 more at Felixstowe in Suffolk, where wooden prefab homes were washed away. As the tide overspilled the Royal Docks in London's East End, 200 people were made homeless and sheltered in Canning Town Town hall.

Part of the problem was a lack of communication. When a high tide occurred at Kings Lynn, killing 36 people, it was assumed to be a local event, and no warnings were issued down the coast and more than 60 people died some hours later on Canvey Island. If they'd been warned, there would have been enough time to evacuate them. More than 900 miles of coastline were damaged at a total cost estimated at £50 million. But there was incredible bravery too. Four men were given the George medal for their courage in wading into the waters and rescuing people.

Following the 1953 storm, coastal defences were improved right along our North Sea coasts and a Storm Tide Warning service was created. But some people remained homeless for a long time. In March 1953 108 families were moved into these caravans in Harwich, where they lived until December 1954.

Floods have already happened this January around the country, and no doubt there will be more, partly because of human-caused global warming, and building on river flood-plains, but also just because it's winter. Let's hope we get adequate warning.




Maggie Brookes, novelist and poet. Author of  historical novels The Prisoner's Wife and Acts of Love and War. As Maggie Brookes-Butt: Wish, New and Selected Poems, published January 27th 2025.

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Mattia Preti: Italian Baroque Artist by Kathryn Gauci

Mattia Preti: Italian Baroque Artist by Kathryn Gauci

Detail: Mattia Preti’s Self Image - a painting by the southern Italian artist acquired by Heritage Malta. Photo:Times of Malta.

Having recently returned from Malta, I was inspired the work of Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) whose art illustrates the exuberant style of the late Baroque. He was such a prolific artist and his work defines St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Preti was born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Italy. He is called Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Calabrian Knight) after his appointment as a Knight of the Order of St. John (Knights of Malta) in 1660. His apprenticeship is said to have been with Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, a follower of Caravaggio. Sometime before 1630, he joined his brother Gregorio (also a painter), in Rome where he became familiar with the techniques of Caravaggio and his school as well as with the work of other masters at the time such as Rubens, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, and other notable artists of the day.

In Rome, he painted fresco cycles in the Saint’Andrea della Valle and San Carlo ai Catinari  Between 1644 and 1646, he spent time in Venice but remained based in Rome until 1653, returning later in 1660–61. He also painted frescoes for the church of San Biagio at Modena (1651–2) and participated in the fresco decoration of Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone (1660–61)

 

Allegoria dell’Aria. Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone

 

During most of 1653–1660, Preti worked in Naples and was influenced by another prominent painter of his era, Luca Giordano. His major works include a series of large fresco ex-votos depicting the Virgin or saints delivering people from the plague, which were painted on seven city gates and are now lost - two sketches for them are in the museum in Naples, including a bozzetto of the Virgin with the baby Jesus looming over the dying and their burial parties which envisions a Last Judgement presided over by a woman. Preti also won a commission to supervise the construction, carving, and gilding for the nave and transept of  San Pietro a Maiella, along with producing a Judith and Holofernes and Saint John the Baptist, both still in Naples

 

Saint Veronica with the Veil

Such religious themes were prevalent in strong catholic countries like Italy and Malta at the time, and as a consequence he was made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John when he visited the Order's headquarters in Malta in 1659. Preti was to spend most of the remainder of his life there. He was commissioned to paint the entire barrel-vaulted ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta and transformed it into a luminous, airy space filled with angels and saints, together with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St John the Baptist (1661–1666). His work displays the dramatic chiaroscuro – a feature that defines this period – with the colours of the Venetian and Neapolitan tradition.

 

Ceiling in St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta

 

 

 

Altarpiece. Cathedral.

His work in the cathedral also has an unusual technique – oil on stone – and his scenes portray an immense vigour and dynamic power, almost unparalleled, even in Italy in the second half of the 17^th-Century. He used quick, zigzag brush strokes and never made preparatory drawings, preferring to go over his work to correct it.

Preti certainly must have impressed his patrons so much that he was also given the task of designing the rich, gold decorations on the walls, along with several paintings in the Oratory where we see Caravaggio’s masterpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. 

 

Boethius and Philosophy. It is believed that the painting was commissioned by Andrea di Giovanni, Knight of the Order of Malta. By the early nineteenth century it formed part of the collection of the Palace of the Grand Master of the same order. Photo: Times of Malta.

 

 

Saint George and the Dragon - Chapel of the Tongue of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre, Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta, Malta

 

 

Preti's largest painting in Malta in the Church of St Lawrence, Vittoriosa, is being restored thanks to BOV - the bank of Valletta.

 

In his forty years in Malta, Preti left an impressive four hundred works. He not only painted for the Order, but for parish churches in the local communities too, leaving these small villages and hamlets with  priceless works of arts. Other paintings are in private collections. His increased reputation led to an expanded circle of patrons, and he received commissions from all over Europe. Preti enjoyed a long career with a considerable artistic output. His paintings are held by many great museums, including important collections in Naples, Valletta, Palermo, and his hometown of Taverna in Calabria.

 

Calling the Apostle Matthew c. 1630-1640, 104 x 164 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

 

The Concert 1630 The Hermitage Museum.

 

 Mattia Preti is buried in the Co-Cathedral in a magnificent vault alongside other Knights of the Order.

 

The Armada at Anstruther by V.E.H. Masters

Early one morning in November of 1588 the villagers of Anstruther on the East coast of Scotland awoke to find a ship in their harbour with over 250 starving Spanish Armada sailors and soldiers on board. We know this because the local minister of the time, James Melville, wrote about it in the extensive diaries he kept. 

I discovered Melville's diaries as I came to the end of writing my first book in series, The Castilians, about the 1546 siege of St Andrews Castle, sixteen miles away. Fascinated by the story of the Armada that came to the East Neuk I determined to write about it next – until fellow author Margaret Skea pointed out the length of time which separated the two events. 'A lot can happen to your characters in forty years,' she said.

And so I wrote, The Seton Chronicles, a five book series which spans the remarkable changes as the reformation took hold in Europe and has my characters fleeing for their lives through Geneva, Antwerp, Venice, Frankfurt and Constantinople. But now, in the final book in series, The Pittenweemers, I finally returned to Scotland, delving into James Melville diaries once more to explore the remarkable story of the Armada in Anstruther.

James VI of Scotland was a ten month old baby when he last saw his mother Mary Queen of Scots, who had been held prisoner by the queen of England for nineteen years. Nevertheless he corresponds regularly with Elizabeth and pleads with her to spare Mary, even suggesting that someone whose father had executed his own bedfellow should not follow suit. 

Queen Elizabeth I - Armada portrait

His pleas were disregarded and Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded by her cousin Elizabeth of England in 1587. That a queen appointed by God should behead another queen, also appointed by God, sent shock waves around Europe. Philip of Spain, already made furious by Sir Francis Drake's piracy on Spanish ships and attack on Cadiz began to gather the largest fleet ever seen, often by 'acquiring' merchant ships within his domain. His purpose was nothing less than to conquer England.

The Pittenweemers

Scotland had been Protestant for 28 years and tales of the coming of the Spanish Armada along with rising fears about the year 1588, which had long been prophesied as catastrophic had people fearful – actually terrified would be more accurate. Here's my character Will, minister of Pittenweem, thoughts on the matter … 

It was an unusually stormy summer with a resulting poor harvest and an inevitable rise in food prices, and that, combined with the increasing rumours of various sightings of the Spanish Armada off Scotland, caused grave anxiety amid Will’s flock. Given the disquietude, Will considered it most unfortunate that there continued to be an outpouring of predictions about the significance of the year. Sitting at a board strewn with papers one morning in early August, he leaved through a discourse written by an Englishman. 

This Richard Harvey was claiming they should all expect either a dissolution or a wonderfull horrible alteration of the worlde in this year of our Lord fifteen hundred and eighty-eight. Harvey wrote in tortured tones, Will could almost hear his voice and a certain relish in his doomsaying, that the disorder would swell until it culminated in a thunderous crescendo, after which irrevocable changes would be embedded – or ‘poof’, Will flicked his fingers – the world would be consumed by a fiery cataclysm. But then, judging by what the astrologers were discovering, that was not so improbable. Comets did shoot across the sky, and what was to prevent those blazing implements of Satan from crashing into the world? And the movement of stars could and did cause an imbalance in the body’s humours – and all this was yet another way in which God punished sinners.

Will sat staring at his desk unseeing for a long time. Eventually he stood up, went out into the rain-soaked garden and gazed up at the ominous dark clouds forming and reforming above. These astronomers and astrologers were like a den of dragons blasting out burning air imputing all failings of nature, accidents of misfortune, oversights and errors to the skies and revelling in their prophecies of perdition. 

Nevertheless, his heart did quail when he thought on the most recent prophecy, which claimed that it was in this year the impact of the perilous conjunction of the planets five years ago was to be realised. Yet if the world was to be blessed by the second coming of Christ, as some prophesied, then that could only be a matter of joy – after the cataclysm. 

And James Melville writes of attending the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh and  how terrible was the fear, piercing was the preaching, earnest and fervent the prayers amid the abounding sighs and sobs, for if Philip took England he would likely then take Protestant Scotland.

August of 1588 and the 130 odd ships that make up the Armada are defeated by the smaller and more manoeuvrable ships under the direction of Sir Francis Drake – and the terrible storms. Around sixty ships are blown up the East coast of Scotland many foundering off Orkney, Shetland, Fair Isle, Ireland and one on Norway. Every attempt to return to Spain was thwarted and the sailors, soldiers, priests and interpreters of the Armada not unnaturally assumed that God had turned against them.

El Gran Grifón ran aground off Fair Isle with over 300 hundred men on board. The captain, Gómez de Medina (not to be confused with the overall Armada commander, the Duke de Medina Sidonia) had rescued men from other ships which sunk, in direct contravention of King Philip's orders. The few households on Fair Isle were unable to provide food for starving men and fifty died. It is of note that there's no reports of them taking from the islanders by force and the captain, known to his men as El Buen – The Good – lived up to his epithet.

                  Armada Chest, complete with complex locking system, at Traquair House

The Spanish may not have had any provisions left but they had gold. Gómez de Medina found his way to Orkney, rescued his men and acquired a ship. It was November by now and the storms had not much abated. Their ship foundered off Anstruther and Medina came ashore to seek help. Here's the scene again from the perspective of  my character Will …

Medina continued as though the interpreter hadn’t spoken. ‘His glorious grace King Philip brought together a mighty fleet and army to avenge the intolerable wrongs and grievous injustices inflicted upon the peoples of the Spanish Empire by the treacherous nation of England. But for our sins, God has turned against us, driving us past the coast of England and subjecting us to storms sent by divine providence over the past several months. Many of our ships have sunk in merciless seas or been dashed against inhospitable shores. Those few of us whom God has chosen to survive have endured bitter cold and suffered great hunger. We come here to kiss the hand of the king of the Scots ...’ Medina paused here and bowed low once more ‘... and beg of you to render us assistance.’

Will watched James Melville and sent up a prayer that he would show a true spirit of kindness, as Jesus Christ would have done.

Melville began to speak. ‘Our friendship cannot be great, seeing your king and you are friends to the greatest enemy of Christ – the Pope of Rome. Our king and we defy that son of Satan and his cause against our neighbours and special friends of England.’ Melville paused to let the translator catch up. ‘And yet we, as Christians of a better religion, are moved by compassion. A compassion that is not manifest to our merchants residing among you with peaceable intent pursuing their lawful affairs who have been violently taken and cast in prison, their goods and gear confiscated and their bodies committed to the cruel flaming fire in the cause of religion. But among us you will find nothing but Christian pity and mercy, leaving God to work in your hearts concerning religion as it so pleases Him – for we will give you assistance.’ 

And so Melville permitted two hundred and fifty men to come ashore. The people of the village were so horrified at the sight of these starving mostly young and beardless men that they ran into their houses and brought them food.

Rumour has it that James Melville was rewarded for his largesse with some of the Spanish gold – and he did build a rather large manse soon after.

Those who came ashore in Scotland and Ireland – many of whom were slaughtered as they staggered up the beaches for their clothes and 'gold' – made their way to Edinburgh, perhaps expecting a sympathetic welcome since James VI was the son of the poor beheaded Mary, even if he was a Protestant.  The Catholic leaning nobles wined and dined the captains however the men, somewhere in the region of a thousand of them including priests, were starving vagrants on the streets. Eventually ships were sent and they were re-patriated to Spain.

The Seton Chronicles

Gómez de Medina's ancestors were Jews and his grandfather was burned at the stake – a point of significance within my overall story of The Setons, since some of my characters are Conversos (Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism). King Philip had demanded that all his captains be 'pure' but those tasked with checking this ran out of time to inquire of the Inquisitor of Seville about Medina's family background.  

Truth is so often much stranger than fiction – and this is what I love about writing historical fiction! 

V.E.H. Masters is the award winning author of the best selling series The Seton Chronicles. Her first novel The Castilians is set in her home town and tells the story of the siege of St Andrews Castle. You can find out more at https://vehmasters.com/ where three free short stories telling more of The Setons are available to download. 


References:

Armada by Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker

The Diaries of James Melville – National Library of Scotland

Entertaining the Troops in World War II, by Carol Drinkwater

 

                   A very proud me on Remembrance Sunday, 9th November 2024, in London.

Below, I am in the company of: (left) Alan Wolven in the chair. Alan is a pianist. Now in his nineties, he is still playing. He was entertaining troops from the age of fourteen; (to my right) Suzie Cliff  was marching for her Mum, Doreen Thompson. See, she is wearing her mum's badges. Doreen entertained with ENSA. Colin Bourdiec in the splendid brown trilby, has a very mellifluous singing voice - he was humming and singing to us throughout our long cold wait before the march began. He is an entertainer who specialises in WWII material. On the far right, Steve Wolven, son of Alan.

The sashes we are wearing represent ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association.

                                                              Remembrance Sunday 2024. 

This year of 2024 was the first time that members of ENSA, or family members of those who had entertained troops during WWII, were represented in the march on Remembrance Sunday. We were a tiny band of six but we were strode proudly for the thousands of men and women who had entertained servicemen and women while they were fighting for their country. 

On a personal level, I was marching in memory of my late father. 

Peter Albert Drinkwater (later he used the stage name Peter Regan). This photo was taken, I believe, in Palestine sometime around 1943.

One of the inspirations for much of what I have spent my life doing: working as an actress, travel writing, entertaining, came from my late father who was a musician and an agent. My father signed up with the Royal Air Force in 1940 when he was 18. He wasn't keen on the idea of weaponry, or of any kind of fighting, but he was rather taken with the possibility of entertaining the servicemen and women. "Bringing a smile to their faces." So, he took himself off to the Drury Lane Theatre in London where there were auditions being held for those who wished to join one of the entertainment corps. Because Daddy had already enlisted with the Royal Air Force, the choice available to him was Squadron Leader Ralph Reader's Gang Show entertainment troupes. Daddy auditioned and was accepted.

I am not sure he had had any previous theatrical experience, I doubt it, nothing besides a dream of going on the stage. Even so he was accepted.

Here we are again marching past the Cenotaph, wearing the sash of ENSA. It was a very memorable and moving moment. Our wreath was laid amongst the thousands of others. Red upon red, all those poppies for peace. 

Above is the same small band of six of us. This was while we were waiting to march. In the foreground of this shot is Alan Crowe who is a marvellous individual. It was Alan who managed to persuade the British Legion that representatives from ENSA should be offered the opportunity to march with those who served. Alan is also the man responsible for the raising of funds to build a memorial in honour of all those who entertained.

What is ENSA? 

ENSA is the Entertainments National Service Association. It was established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson (both names my father mentioned frequently during my childhood). Leslie Henson was the grandfather of the television presenter Adam Henson. ENSA was established to provide entertainment for British Armed Forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force institutes. 

There were many artistes who did not go abroad but spent their time travelling Britain entertaining in service bases, ammunitions factories or gun and balloon sites.

There were several classes of shows from the larger ones to small shows. The B shows were the lesser known stars and including performers who were not known at all.

Apologies that this photo is a little blurry. These are my father's medals. I had never really asked myself what they were awarded for until I started to write this History Girls post. The first medal, I believe, is a WWII British Africa star. Daddy would have been awarded this one because he spent all his war in Africa and the Middle East. 

Every ENSA member was awarded the Defence Medal. In Daddy's collection above, it is the third one along.

                                             Dame Very Lynn. 1917 - 2020

Dame Very Lynn, an abidingly famous ENSA artiste was a symbol of the wartime spirit, also a symbol of all that was waiting back home: wives, sweethearts, sisters, mothers. She was greatly loved and became known as the 'Force's Sweetheart'. She was awarded the Burma Star for entertaining British guerrilla units in Japanese-controlled Burma. She was also awarded the War Medal 1939 - 1945.  She and I met on many occasions later when I had started working as an actress and we were involved in various charity shows together. Vera was a truly lovely lady, modest, gracious and generous.

Daddy's War Medal is above: the fourth one along in the pic.

When my father used to recount his tales of those 'exotic' days in Africa, it all sounded such fun and gung-ho but it could also be very dangerous. 

It was compulsory for West End Stars to entertain the troops during at least one six-week tour a year. Sometimes entertainers who were not in the armed forces were sent abroad to entertain. Basil Dean worried that if any of these artistes were captured, they were at serious risk.  If they were caught and not in uniform, Dean feared they might be taken for spies, which was a very real possibility. At Dean's behest uniforms were introduced for those civilians/stars who had accepted to entertain in war zones. The uniforms consisted of standard pattern battle dress and war theatre uniforms such as Jungle Green bush jackets. The only insignia allowed on the jacket was the standard ENSA shoulder titles. Although the civilian performers had no rank, all ENSA performers were granted officer status so that they could use the mess facilities. History has it that the only artiste never to wear uniform was Tommy Trinder who, when offered the uniform, said, "No, thanks. If I get captured, I deserve to be shot!"

As far as I am aware, the only ENSA member killed in the war was a nineteen-year-old girl, a tap dancer and acrobat. Vivienne Hole performed under the stage name of Vivienne Faye. On 23rd January 1945 in Normandy, she was being driven between shows as a passenger aboard a truck carrying stage scenery which strayed into a minefield and exploded. She was buried with full military honours in the Sittard War Cemetery. What a tragic end for one so young and at such a late stage in the war.

When I was a child, RAF Gang Show reunions were held in London on an annual basis. Daddy always attended. He was immensely proud of his contribution to Ralph Reader's shows. Amongst the soldiers he performed with were Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock. Peter Sellers began with ENSA as a drummer. Later when performing with Gang Show units, he developed his extraordinary skills for improvisation. Both Sellers and my father loved to play the ukulele and I have often wondered whether they performed together. My father's ukulele, and his banjo, sit in my writing room and they a great source of comfort and inspiration.

Ralph Reader created twenty-four Gang Show units and two WAAF units. They toured and performed in almost every theatre of war from Iceland to Burma. It is believed that in total they entertained some 3,500,000 servicemen and women. Quite an achievement.

On several occasions Daddy took me along with him to a reunion and I was privileged to spot a few of the famous faces. I remember Daddy discreetly pointing people out to me. At the end of the evening, everyone would get up together and sing "On the Crest of a Wave". Written by Ralph Reader, it was the Gang Show's signature tune. I can still hear it ringing in my ears today.

Not everyone in ENSA went on to make a name for themselves in show business and not everyone was a naturally talented entertainer, but many did become stars in the world of show business.

A little joke: Because sometimes the shows were a bit of a shambles and not always entirely properly rehearsed, the troops used to joke that ENSA actually stood for, 'Every Night Something Terrible.'

As I have written above, ENSA has never been recognised at the Remembrance Day March, until this year. We little band of six were the first to march and give the salute for al those wonderful people. Also, importantly, no Memorial exists to honour all those hundreds of thousands who spent the war entertaining others, but there is a move to change this. Below is a crowdfunding site to help pay for the cost of the memorial stone and its placement. If you or someone in your family have ever been entertained by anyone from ENSA, please think of making a small donation.

I have posted the same photo twice because the first version is clearer but cuts out the gentleman standing on the left. My father is the lad giving all the ladies a piggyback. I think these 'girls' performed in the shows with Daddy, or were in military service in Africa. According to Daddy's writing on the pic, it was taken in Durham in South Africa in 1944. If anyone knows who the other man is or can recognise any of the ladies, I would be thrilled to hear from you. 

Please email me at olivefarmbooks@gmail.com

After my generation, there will be no one left to remember all these past performers if no Memorial stone is erected in their memory. There is a link below for donations. Thank you.

Also, below, is a link to an article I wrote for the Mail on Sunday Travel recounting a visit I made this year, 2024, to Alexandria in Egypt. I made the journey partly to follow in the footsteps of my father.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-13582619/Alexandria-Egypt-Carol-Drinkwater.html

My travel book The Olive Route covers many of the countries where my father was stationed in Africa and the Middle East.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/ensa-memorial-appeal-1202671