It’s hard to have missed the fact that this week is the anniversary of the start of the Blitz (and we don’t mean the much under-rated Lionel Bart musical!). There have been commemorative services at St Pauls, some excellent tv and radio documentaries and an exciting new website with colour footage of wartime Westminster. So let’s see what the Westminster Libraries Gateway has to offer in the way of wartime memories.
First port of call is the History section. If you go to the BBC History site and simply search for Blitz, you’ll find a variety of news clips, personal reminiscences and links to tv and radio programmes. Fascinating, if occasionally distressing stuff. Back at the History section of the Gateway, go to British Pathe for newsreel and documentary footage from the war – I found a clip of the Queen visiting a salvage centre in Paddington accompanied by the Lord Mayor and another of a bomb crater in Charing Cross Road with a temporary, but very sturdy looking, bridge over it. As with Youtube, you’ll see other videos of interest linked to the one you are watching so you can spend hours there. The only downside to this excellent site is the rather annoying ad that runs before each clip but that’s a small price to pay for such a valuable record.
You may have seen in the news in last couple of days that there has recently been discovered colour footage of the war in Westminster, filmed by the Mayor of Westminster no less. You can see the complete films on West End at War, linked from the Local History section of the History Gateway page. As well as the film clips (which include a brief glimpse of Winston Churchill himself reviewing the troops in Hyde Park), there are paintings by war artists and reminiscences from local residents including a Nigerian ARP warden.
Another excellent source of history is contemporary newspapers and magazines. We’re spoiled for choice on the Gateway – have a look at the Newspapers and Magazines page and take your pick. Why not choose The Times Digital Archive - you can browse an individual issue. One snippet I noticed from the 7th September 1940 issue is a letter from Mr Stafford Bourne, of Bourne and Hollingsworth, assuring readers that their shop would remain open during raids while 200 staff who doubled as fire-watchers, Red Cross nurses, special constables and members of a decontamination squad leapt into action and another item announcing the schedule for band concerts in Hyde Park. Have a look too at the Illustrated London News – the issue of September 14th 1940 has a full page of bombed London churches though, presumably because of censorship, most are not identified.
A whole page of items about the war and no mention of Dame Vera Lynn! Can such a thing be possible? I hear you cry. Fear not – we can supply all your nostalgic wartime music needs too. Go to the Music section of the Gateway and click on the link for Naxos Music Library. A search for Dame Vera will give you more morale boosting songs than anyone could possibly need but if your appetite hasn’t yet been satisfied, there’s plenty of Gracie Fields, Al Bowlly (a victim of the Blitz) and the Andrews Sisters. Just sit back and enjoy…
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