Full steam ahead for the war effort

The money came from donations, bowling for a pig and the auction of an outsize marrow in the shape of a duck... called Cuthbert.

THE end product of the Warship Week fund-raising feat in 1941 certainly didn't turn out to be quite as Pershore district people had expected.

They were set the task of raising £100,000 to pay for a new corvette for the Royal Navy and would clearly have anticipated that, in achieving this target, they would see the subsequent launch of a ship bearing the name Pershore.

Yet in doubling the set sum and raising £200,000, local residents still did not enjoy the satisfaction of having one or perhaps even two naval corvettes launched in their name.

The Admiralty no doubt invested the £200,000 effectively in Britain's campaign for victory at sea, but the Pershore area was simply accorded the opportunity of officially adopting the Destroyer, HMS Scimitar.

This was not a new vessel but one which had, in fact, been launched near the end of the First World War in 1918.

Places such as Worcester did at least see new fighter planes take to the skies bearing their names as a result of public contributions to Spitfire Funds.

True though, HMS Scimitar did give illustrious service during the Second World War, but most Pershore people heard nothing further about her after her adoption in 1941, no doubt due to necessary secrecy surrounding naval movements during the war. Not until about 40 years later did Pershore people begin to learn the history of HMS Scimitar!

I've been hearing all about this ship from John Hemming of Pershore, who has become so immersed in the subject that he is known locally as Mr Scimitar.

It was he who encouraged me to produce today's Memory Lane feature celebrating the 60th anniversary of Pershore and District Warship Week.

Though he didn't serve in the Royal Navy, or ever see the ship, Mr Hemming has become an acknowledged expert on HMS Scimitar and keeps alive its memory, more than half-a-century after its scrapping, by the production a twice yearly newsletter under the masthead Scimitarmen.

At his own expense, he compiles and sends out this newsletter to former members of the crew of HMS Scimitar, widows and close relatives of crew members, people rescued by the ship during the last war, and to others "having a special interest in HMS Scimitar".

He is currently putting the finishing touches to issue No.11 and, through this initiative and his fascination for HMS Scimitar, he has become friends with Captain RD Franks CBE DSO DSC and former Petty Officer Bob Webb DSM.

Captain Franks, who lives in Dartmouth, Devon, was in command of HMS Scimitar from February 1940 until July 1942, then being the youngest captain in the British Navy. He went on to be Captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark. Bob Webb, whose home is at Evesham, was a wartime crew member of HMS Scimitar.

John Hemming has indelible boyhood memories of Pershore and District Warship Week, explaining his later life interest in HMS Scimitar.

"I was 10-years-old at the time and particularly remember the 30ft wooden model of a corvette which was displayed in Broad Street during the week," he says. "Following the adoption of HMS Scimitar, I heard nothing more about her for many years, though some people did see her history featured in an exhibition at the Pinvin Royal British Legion Club in 1982."

Mr Hemming was a co-opted member of Pershore Town Council for some years and served on the Pershore Heritage Centre Steering Committee following a 1993 public meeting. He later became a committee member of the Pershore Heritage and History Society and, in 1994, was persuaded by Pershore Town Clerk Chris Neale to take over from him in completing a project delving into the history of HMS Scimitar.

For two years, Mr Neale had drawn up a file on the destroyer and was also acting as custodian of plaques relating to HMS Scimitar, plus, significantly, its ship's bell, acquired from the Ministry of Defence in 1992.

Letters in the Royal British Legion's nation-wide magazine and in the Navy News, seeking former crew members of HMS Scimitar, brought a significant number of replies, perhaps most importantly, from Captain Franks, who kindly sent a copy of the diary he kept during his years in command of the ship.

During the war, one crew member was killed and 14 injured aboard HMS Scimitar - most of these casualties being during a German dive-bombing raid while the ship was anchored at Portland.

Bob Webb of Evesham wrote to say he had been on board at the time and knew the one crew member killed - Leading Seaman John Gunn. Bob Webb was himself slightly injured, though saved from more serious wounds by his belt webbing.

Pershore Heritage Centre was officially opened in the summer of 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and John Hemming was authorised to organise a Scimitar Day as part of the celebrations.

He invited Capt Franks, Bob Webb and all other Scimitarmen known to him to attend the event, which they readily did.

"I shall never forget Scimitar Day - it was a unique and historic occasion," stresses Mr Hemming. "Some of those present met up again for the first time in more than 50 years, and one could feel a wonderful atmosphere of pleasure and emotion. An excellent buffet lunch, provided by the council at the Civic Centre, was the icing on the cake, and I was very proud to have been organiser of such a marvellous day."

The Pershore Heritage Centre displays included one on HMS Scimitar.

John Hemming served in the Army for his national service and spent most of his working life - 30 years - at the Dowty Mining plant in Ashchurch, Gloucestershire.

His late father, Police Sergeant Reg Hemming was based at Pershore from 1940 until 1951 and was a member of the local Bomb Recognition Squad.

He was involved in the search for two unexploded German bombs which fell in the Pershore Abbey grounds. One was found and dealt with, but the other sank deep into quick sand and was never recovered, being officially written off.

"God knows where it is, but it must surely be safe and harmless after all these years deep below ground," suggests John Hemming.

WE are on the eve of the Diamond Jubilee of the Pershore and District Warship Week.

It ran from the 15th to the 22nd of November, 1941, and witnessed a spectacular, Herculean fund-raising feat by people of the riverside town and 42 surrounding villages and parishes.

They were set the initial daunting target of raising £100,000 to equip the Royal Navy with a new corvette, but they doubled that sum, donating a magnificent £200,000 and being given the privilege of officially adopting the Destroyer, HMS Scimitar.

The huge total raised in so short a time by Warship Week was the equivalent of £16 for every man, woman and child in the Pershore area - a figure put in perspective by the average weekly wage of that time of around £3.

Warship Week was organised to cover its 42 parishes by the Pershore Rural District Council who received an encouraging letter from Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

He wrote: "The results without doubt will provide still further proof of our desire to press home this fight until victory is won.

"The campaign deserves the support of all who desire to see, as I do, still closer links forged between our towns and villages and the Royal Navy which unceasingly protects and keeps open for all freedom-loving peoples the highway of the seas."

For Warship Week launch day (November 15, 1941), Pershore's main streets were decked with flags and bunting, while shop windows were filled with colourful displays.

Thousands of people lined the streets and the town's central square as Lt. Col WH Taylor, chairman of Pershore RDC and Commander of the Evesham Area Home Guard, performed the opening ceremony in Broad Street.

A Grand Parade through Pershore first assembled at the Co-operative Fruit Market in Defford Road and then proceeded on its route, headed by the bands of the Worcestershire Regiment and the Royal Marines. The parade was made up of detachments of many organisations including the Liverpool Scottish, colourfully clad in kilts.

The salute was taken by Captain Spencer-Cooper RN., and prominently displayed in the town was a 30ft long wooden model of a ship, labelled The Pershore Corvette.

All sorts of fund-raising events were held throughout the Pershore rural district for Warship Week including whist drives, concerts, dances, sales, competitions, entertainments, Fire Brigade and ambulance demonstrations, and a big rally by the Croome Hunt Pony Club.

Ben Longfield, proprietor of Pershore's Plaza Cinema, donated three evenings' takings from the screening of the film Target for Tonight, which was shown together with a stage programme by local music hall performers.

Two "fine pigs" were donated for a bowling competition at the Pershore Club, but perhaps the most remarkable of all fund-raising events was that organised by Lawford Mansfield, the ever resourceful general manager of Pershore Co-operative Fruit Market.

He somehow found a 16-inch long monster marrow, similar in shape to a duck, nicknamed it Cuthbert and put it up for bids at a grand auction.

Its actual value was 3d but the sale raised a staggering £3,098 which must surely have made it the most expensive marrow in the world - a record sum unlikely to have been eclipsed since!

A flag was also auctioned at the market and fetched £371.15s.