PoW family steps foward

And within hours of the article appearing I was delighted to receive calls leading me to eight surviving members of the family, still living in and around Worcester!

The search began when I was contacted by John Cave, a vice-president of the Worcester Twinning Association who, in turn, had received a letter from Karl-Heinz Koster, chairman of the Twinning Association in the Faithful City's German twin town of Kleve.

Herr Koster had met up recently, with two elderly men who vividly remembered their days as prisoners-of-war based at Worcester.

One of them, Josef Knopp, had particularly happy memories of being invited to spend Christmases and other festive occasions with the Rudge family who, he believed, had 13 children of their own to feed and entertain.

Josef had lost contact with the Rudges and wondered if any were still living in Worcester.

The first person to contact me was James (Jim) Rudge of Hatfield, near Norton-juxta-Kempsey - one of that very family.

His late father and mother, Harry and Bella Rudge, lived for many years at 40 Severn Terrace, Worcester - a property which is now the offices of the Swan Theatre - and had 11 children.

Jim suggests Josef Knopp may have thought there were 13 children because his eldest brother, Arthur and wife and baby were living with their parents at the time.

Jim says his grandparents, Henry and Mary Rudge had a butcher's shop and slaughterhouse next to the Alma pub in Droitwich Road, for some years, and Harry, their son, followed in his father's footsteps, setting up his own butcher's shop at 40 Severn Terrace in the 1930s.

However, Jim explains that his father Harry was "too kind and soft," allowing poorer customers to have their meat "on tick" during the Depression.

"For instance, I was told of the day a little kiddie came in and asked for meat on behalf of his mother but was told by my father that he would have to be paid for it as he was already owed money by the family for previous supplies.

"The boy left dejected but a few hours later father wrapped up some chops and asked one of the family to take it round to Mrs So-and-So - he just couldn't see her children going without food."

However, Harry Rudge's kindness and humanity meant he had no head for business, and his butcher's shop eventually had to close. Instead, he became a slaughterman at the Worcester Abattoir off Croft Road, and also kept a piggery under the railway arches on the river side of Croft Road. He had sheep too, paying for them to graze on Pitchcroft.

"It was at the abattoir that he came to meet the three German prisoners-of-war whom we came to know as Joseph, Peter and Tony. They were working for Worcester Corporation doing some concreting work at the abattoir when one of the meat inspectors suggested to them that my father might invite them to come to Christmas dinner in 1946, if they asked him.

"Father always killed one of his pigs at Christmas to go with the turkey for our festive fare, and he told the Germans they would be welcome to join us," said Jim.

Interestingly, Harry Rudge would have been no stranger to German soldiers having seen active service during the First World War with the Black Watch Regiment.

There was to be at least one occasion while the Rudges entertained the P-o-Ws that Harry made Peter change his special issue overcoat for another so that he could go with Harry for a drink at a nearby pub.

"As a boy I also well remember snowballing with the Germans during the extremely chill winter of 1947," added Jim.

After the war, his mother Bella always posted Christmas cards to the three Germans and they, in turn, sent Christmas and Easter cards and also photographs of weddings or christenings in their families.

"In 1964, my mother, sister Margaret and sister-in-law Sheila went over to Germany, where Betty was living as her husband was then based there with the Worcestershire Regiment. They met up with Joseph, Peter and Tony and enjoyed a happy re-union.

"Among the many cards the Germans sent to us over the years was one addressed to 'Our family from your thankful boys,' and it was to be some years before our family lost touch with the three of them."

Bella Rudge (maiden name, Revill) was a niece of Sarah Jane Pratley, a central figure in the family story of the Pratleys who, for many decades, have kept a china emporium in The Shambles

In fact, Bella would often help out in the Shambles shop when she could find time from looking after her husband Harry and their 11 children.

In the 1930s, Harry would sometimes take on the job of driving cattle from Shrub Hill Station down to the cattle market.

"He got £1 a time which was a lot of money in those days, but just imagine seeing 70 cows being herded through the centre of the city" said Jim.

Harry also had a stall in the Shambles Market for a time and rented allotments too, including part of the Royal Infirmary gardens alongside Croft Road.

"Amusingly, there was a day in the 1940s when he went to tend his Infirmary plot and returned home to tell my mother that the nurses must be hard-hearted because there had been a baby crying constantly and they had done nothing about seeing to the child.

"But what dad had forgotten is that he had taken the baby of our family, Margaret with him in her pram that morning, and then forgotten all about her."

All the Rudge children were born at 40 Severn Terrace, with the exception of the eldest, Arthur who was born at Harry and Bella's first home in George Street.

Sadly, there was to be personal tragedy for Harry and Bella in 1945, when one of their daughters, Mary died suddenly from meningitis at the age of only 15.

"She had lived life to the full and loved horse riding," said Jim. "In fact, she would ride horses on the racecourse early in the morning though this was strictly forbidden."

Jim stressed that his father was a very good-hearted man. "His motto in life was: If you can't help someone, don't hinder them!"

Harry Rudge set up a piggery at Hatfield, near Norton, in 1966, and he and wife Bella moved to a new bungalow there, named Harrybell, in 1970. This was built by sons Gilbert and Ted. Harry died in 1978, at the age of 88, while Bella died in 1985, aged 86.

Since Jim was first in touch, one of his sisters, Mrs Winifred Beech of Dines Green, Worcester, has also telephoned me. She too has vivid memories of the German P-o-Ws who, she says, were "very well-liked fellows locally" immediately after the war. Her in-laws lived in Waverley Street at the time, and her mother-in-law would invite them in for a cup of tea if they were working in the area.

"Just after the war, the Mayor of Worcester asked citizens to invite German P-o-Ws into their homes and show the Christmas spirit. My dad was a very kind sort of man and readily responded. Joseph played the mouth organ and entertained people, and once gave me one of his mouth organs, which I still possess.

"One thing I particularly recall is that when the Germans were in our house, my sisters and I would sometimes ask them to go and put the kettle on. Initially, they said 'German man don't do that', but we soon pointed that, when in England, you do as we do."

Mrs Beech says the three were not repatriated to Germany, until 1947 or 48.

Of Harry and Bella's 11 children, six sons and three daughters are still living, eight of them in and around Worcester. They are:

6 Arthur, of Vauxhall Street, who like his father, was a slaughterman at the Worcester Abattoir for many years but then worked at Metal Box. During the war he served in the REME.

6 John, of Bromwich Road, who was also a slaughterman but then became a milkman.

6 Gilbert, of Grimley, who was in the building trade.

6 Ted, of Warndon, who began as a slaughterman before joining brother Gilbert in building.

6 Betty (Mrs Lynch) who lives at Pershore.

6 Winifred (Mrs Beech) who has her home in Dines Green.

6 James who was originally a mechanic but became a telephone engineer and now lives at his parents' former bungalow home, Harrybell at Hatfield.

6 Margaret who has worked for many years at Kays, now Reality. She also lives at Harrybell.

6 The other surviving member of the 11 children is Harry, who lives in Australia. He was a Bevin Boy during the war.

Alas, another son, Sid Rudge died only last year. He too was a slaughterman at first but later became a milkman. His home was at Hatfield.

"We were a very happy family," stressed Jim.

Reader, Ken Sampson of Radnor Croft, Astwood Farm, Worcester, was also in touch about the Rudge family and the German P-o-Ws.

He was brought up in Pheasant Street, Worcester and, as a boy of about 11 or 12, went regularly to the nearby Shrub Hill Station where he would pick up passengers' cases on a pram and take them to city centre hotels and other places at 2d or 3d a time.

"However, I vividly remember one day at Shrub Hill when a train arrived with scores of German P-o-Ws, all with red diamonds sewn on the back of their uniforms.

"They were accompanied by only a couple of British soldiers, and I followed as they were marched along Lowesmoor to The Cross and then up Barbourne and Ombersley Road. They then turned into Checketts Lane and were marched straight across Droitwich Road into the grounds of Perdiswell Hall, where they were to be billeted in the old military huts.

"I imagine this is where the three German P-o-Ws entertained by the Rudges were based," said Ken, who later worked at the Worcester Abattoir with Harry Rudge and some of his sons.

Another reader, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the German P-o-Ws were at Perdiswell Hall and later had to register as aliens.

However, Jim Rudge believes that P-o-Ws were also billeted for a time at Blackpole, on the site occupied for some years later by the MEB.