大象传媒

Quite early in the war and because of the shortage of metal for building armaments, a campaign was launched to collect metal items that could be reprocessed and turned into weapons and equipment for the war effort. Croydon County Council, our local authority, asked for volunteers to collect scrap and my friend Maurice Spurging and I, both about 10 years old, volunteered to work every Saturday. First thing in the morning we collected an official council trolley and, proud as punch, called at every house in our area asking for scrap metal, such as gates, fences, empty tins - indeed any metal that people would let us take. Some weeks the two of us had difficulty in getting the load back to the council's depot! After a few months of doing our Saturday good deed the council kindly presented us with a certificate in appreciation of our war effort!

After the war I read that the scrap metal collections were mostly about morale and getting the public involved and that very little of the scrap collected was ever used! It's the thought that counts!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.