 |
Memories of our meeting and exhibition 5th - 12th June 2004 at Bilston Craft Gallery D-DAY AND WORLD WAR 2 |
|
 |
At the entrance to the gallery and library we had posters displayed, one of them on a newspaper placard stand arranged by Gerald Hanrahan. |
 |
On the stairs up the First Floor space we had another placard board, a large Union Jack and a whole range of government war time propaganda posters which urged people on the home front to think whether their journey was really necessary, to remember that walls have ears, to make do and mend, and so on. |
| On the first wall there was a vast array of pictures
dealing with local aspects of the home front, the Home Guard, the
Auxilliary Fire Service, the Women's Voluntary Service, industry,
servicemen and the RAF.
On the table in front we had, by courtesy of Reg Aston, many
documents which visitors could take copies of. These included pieces by Alma Darby, Bill Pope, Arthur Wilkes (by courtesy of Dorothy Wilkes), George Philpott, Bill Pope, Ken Gretton, David Squire and Reg Aston. |
 |
In the first display cases we had a war time toilet roll, Puritan and Fairy soap, war time aircraft spotters' book and other items, all lent by Reg Aston and Frank Sharman. |
 |
 |
In the first corner we had a board displaying
pictures about war time entertainment, including photos of all the
film stars who could be seen in films showing in the Black Country
on D-Day.
We also had this army battledress tunic lent by Keith Taylor. It had been his father's during the war. |
|
Next, this display case contained items including firewatching badges from John Thompson Ltd and Sankeys; a war time ID cards from Turner Manufacturing and Hobsons. Thanks for these items go to Ken Pearce, Stan Slater and Geoff Price. |
| And then we had a bright array of silk "sweetheart" hankies as well as examples of trench art, a bosun's whistle, a Ghurka kukri and other items. Thanks to Kath Keily, Kevin Stanford, Stan Slater, Margaret Slater, Rose Blackham. |
 |
This case contained occupation currency, ID cards, dog tags, all relating to Sgt Wilf Blunsden, and Nazi badges, shells and bullets, an officer's swagger stick, a Dinky toy model of a tank transported made by Sankeys, and other items. Thanks to Anita Cox, Vaughan Wallis, Bruce Woodall, Kevin Stanford. |
 |
 |
In the next case was a collection of memorabilia made by Alf Lovell, which included many German items which Alf had collected as he fought through Germany. Thanks to his son, also Alf Lovell, for lending them. |
 |
In the right hand corner there was a panel about the Bevin Boys and another about the Women's Land Army. Then photos of PLUTO, which Bilston played a large part in, and photos of D-Day and after, including the South Staffs Regiment. And then there were some pictures about the ARP ... |