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Mr W H (Bert) Taylor and the Merchant Navy Comforts Service

The part played by the Merchant Navy in the war is, I believe, sometimes overlooked. Our Merchant seamen brought in the vital supplies and food without which our country would, undoubtedly have succumbed to the might of Hitler’s Germany their lives were in constant danger
As a child I was very lucky. My father did not have to go and fight in the war. He had very poor eyesight in one eye and was considered medically unfit. So he continued working extremely hard in the family bakery business. It was not easy, virtually all the skilled bakers having been called up for war service. Bakery materials were either in very short supply or rationed — or just unobtainable.
My father was always a good organiser. He had a knack of persuading and encouraging folks to get things done. As a baker he realised how important was the role of the merchant navy so he chose as his war effort to work for the merchant navy comforts service. A committee was formed of local business men in land-locked Cannock to raise funds and to work for the M.N.S.C. in any way possible and my father played a leading role on this committee.
The purpose of the M.N.S.C. was to provide parcels of warm clothing to be handed to merchant seamen as soon as possible once they had been rescued from the icy Atlantic or wherever. (It will be remembered that Hitler’s submarines nearly won the battle of the Atlantic and thousands of merchant ships were sunk during the war. There was great loss of life. Yet some merchant seamen actually survived several ships going down underneath them)
Items of clothing could be bought but also a great deal of knitting was done to make up the parcels. Each parcel contained a label stating which M.N.S.C. group it had come from and I have 12 letters from people who benefited from receiving parcels and who, in spite of the plight took time and trouble to write and say thank you. Incredibly the list includes a U.S. air force pilot who was shot down in the Mediterranean, and an Australian airman shot down in the sea off the coast of Australia. An emergency rescue kit contained 10 articles of clean dry clothing, 3 knitted and 7 manufactured. In one 2year period 85,000 emergency rescue kits were sent on active service. (They were usually carried on destroyers who rescued the merchant seamen.)
I remember my father having telephone calls with Mr Kirkland Bridge who was one of the king-pins of the national M.N.S.C. organisation. Of course, most of M.N.S.C. groups were situated in ports or places associated with the sea, so it was quite something that Cannock and district were the first area to have an M.N.S.C. week. During that week, which took much preparation and a great deal of hard work, £4,500 was raised- more than double the target! A great deal of money in those days! I remember mother looking after us four boys being a bit fed up sometimes, that dad, after long hours at the bakery had to dash off to M.N.S.C. meetings so frequently.)
Another surprising thing that the M.N.S.C did was to collect and provide books for ship-wrecked sailors to read. My father was once telephoned to see if he could find 1000 books for this purpose. Through his various contacts he gathered 4500 in just 7 days!!
I was about 9 or 10 when most of this was taking place. Occasionally it meant we met quite big names in the entertainment world. I specially remember meeting Tommy Handley and the ITMA team who visited Cannock for some event dad was organising. Another event was a celebrity football match at Hednesford starring Stanley Matthews, a huge success and Stanley Matthews was delighted with the £10 he was offered for his services when he was taken back to RAF Stafford where he was serving!
How fortunate my brothers and I were to have our father at home all through the war. His services to the M.N.S.C. were recognised in two presentations, one of a model galleon ‘the great Harry’, and the other a gold version of the M.N.S.C. badge.
I am very proud of my father’s War Effort of half a century ago.

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