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It’s Panto time again … Oh! yes it is!

This year I have been to a pantomime for the first time in about 25 years. We bought tickets last year but Covid meant that we didn’t get to use them. This year’s offering was Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood by the Littleport Players. Not one of the more common productions – and not one I’ve come across in Salonika – but I do recall going to see it with my grandfather when I was a nipper. For many years he and I went to East Barnet Royal British Legion Hall to see the show put on by – I think – the Warren Players and Concert Party. You don’t hear of concert parties these days, so that makes me feel very old.

Continue reading “It’s Panto time again … Oh! yes it is!”

Rough Riders Remembered

Whilst in London recently we were passing through Smithfield on our way to St Paul’s, when I came across a hidden church: St Bartholomew the Great. It was open so we couldn’t resist going in for a nosey around and I’m very glad we did. It was especially atmospheric as it had some lighting on (it was going dark outside), a choir was practising for a concert and I’m sure there was a lingering smell of incense. With a long history – founded in 1123 – there is much of interest inside, but the item that especially caught my eye was comparatively recent: a memorial to the fallen of the City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) in the world wars.

One of the Regiment’s battle honours is ‘Macedonia 1916-17’.

1/1st City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) arrived in Salonika from Egypt – having earlier been in Gallipoli – in November 1916 as part of 8th Mounted Brigade. Its sojourn in Macedonia was relatively brief and the Brigade returned to Egypt in June 1917, where it became part of the Yeomanry Mounted Division which took part in the campaign in Palestine. In mid-1918 the Regiment moved to France as part of the Machine Gun Corps.

These are most of the dead from the First World War – several more are on a side panels:

According to the CWGC website, just five are buried in Greece. All are described as ‘died’, which suggests to me that the cause was disease or accident, but I know that’s not conclusive. From the dates of death, just one of the casualties is from the time the Regiment spent in Macedonia:

Two are casualties from the Gallipoli campaign, buried on the island of Lemnos

Just one is from the regiment’s time in Macedonia:

The other two died after the regiment left for Egypt, so stayed on in Macedonia for some reason:

Water for man and beast: a typical scene in Salonika. An illustration dated 1917 from one of the many part works of the period, showing British Yeomanry watering their horses at a fountain in the city.
‘Water for man and beast: a typical scene in Salonika’. An illustration dated 1917 showing Yeomanry in Salonika from one of the many part works of the period.

To find out more, please visit:

December Webinars

The Western Front Association is offering two more of its popular webinars this December. To attend, please follow the link for each webinar to register.

From Plumstead to Palestine – Some Cockney War Stories,  Clive Harris
Monday 12 December, 8pm (UK time)
The size and story of London’s contribution in the Great War fades into the pages of history somewhat. This presentation charts the story of London’s regiments, its people and the city’s sacrifices.
To register for this event click here

The Russian Civil War and the Allied Intervention Force, Gordon Corrigan
Monday 19 December, 8pm (UK time)
In this presentation, Gordon will explain how the Russian civil war was supported by a British led Allied Intervention Force. This force included not only British but American, French, Czech and Japanese troops and the Royal Navy operating in the Baltic and the Black Sea and with gunboats on the rivers. 
To register for this event click here

Featured image by Wynn Pointaux from Pixabay

…if needs be to stop there for good.

My thanks go to Lucy London (of the excellent Forgotten Poets of the First World War site) for sending on this poem, and details of its author, written in 1915.

A Candid Opinion

Do we want to back to the trenches?
To get biscuits and bully to eat
To get caught by a sniper’s chance bullet
Or crippled with frost bitten feet.  

There are some say they’re anxious to get back
There are others who say they are not.
It is not that they care for the danger
Or are frightened that they will get shot. 

It’s the awful conditions you live in,
Midst the rain and the mud and the dirt.
Where you’d give a month’s pay for a square meal,
And twice that amount for a shirt.

No, I’m not at all anxious to go back,
But I’ll have to go that’s understood
So I’m willing and ready to go there
And if needs be to stop there for good. 

The poem’s author was William Fox Ritchie, born on 15th June 1887 in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland. William joined Princess Louise’s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in April 1909 and served in Malta and India. With the outbreak of war he served in Flanders where he suffered from frostbite and, in 1915, was invalided home.

Perhaps as his poem suggests, William felt compelled to return to active service. In 1917 he volunteered and joined 12th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Salonika.  Serjeant William F. Ritchie was killed in action at the Grand Couronne, Salonika on 12th September 1918.  He is buried at Doiran Military Cemetery where his inscription reads, Until the day break and the shadows flee away.

Source: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3753074

A Date With Destiny …

Whilst looking through ‘The Mosquito’ – an excellent resource and good value, too! – I came across a recipe for a date and walnut cake from June 1939 (No. 46, page 49). I’m no baker, but I do like pottering in the kitchen. Admittedly it’s mainly to listen to history podcasts, but I can turn out a reasonable tea loaf, so thought this would be within my capabilities. The opportunity came when we were given a bag of fresh walnuts so, with just some stoned dates to buy, I was off!

I know the recipe says ‘Walnut and Date Cake’ but I think ‘Date and Walnut’ trips off the tongue more readily!

Ingredients

  • 1 lb stoned dates;
  • 2 ozs walnuts – I put in 3 ozs as I had them and 2 ozs didn’t look much next to a pound of dates!
  • 2 teacups of boiling water (bare measure) – I have no idea what this means but two measures of one of our posh teacups did the trick!
  • 1½ teacups of sugar – I don’t have a very sweet tooth and given that a pound of dates is rather sweet I put in a little under a teacup of Demerara, which was fine;
  • 4 teacups of plain flour – I ended up shaking in a bit more because the mixture looked rather gloopy!
  • 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda;
  • 2 beaten eggs;
  • ½ teaspoon of salt.

Method

  • Chop dates and walnuts – I went quite small; this was the most tedious part of the operation but, with a good podcast to listen to, the job was soon done;
  • place the dates and walnuts in a bowl and add salt, bicarbonate of soda, then boiling water;
  • allow to stand for two minutes;
  • add sugar, flour and the beaten eggs – stirring thoroughly;
  • ‘Will make two cakes or loaves’ – not very precise guidance from the recipe so I got out a selection of baking tins and guessed how far the mixture would go – greasing them with butter and lining with greaseproof paper before pouring in the mixture; these are the sizes I ended up with …

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred!

  • ‘Bake in moderate oven for 1 to 1½ hours’ – our fan oven did them in about 45 minutes at 180℃; I checked they were done by poking with a skewer to see if there was any uncooked mixture lurking (thanks for the tip, Mrs B!).

I have to say they were a great success and there is very little left after a week. I shall definitely be making this again.

So, thanks to the Salonika Reunion Association and, especially, Aileen H. Moore (late of QAIMNS (R)) for a super little recipe shared in the ‘Women’s Pages’ of ‘The Mosquito’ over 70 years ago!

They shall grow not old …

Pillar Hill Cemetery, Doiran Front, Salonika. © IWM Q 64343

Allied war cemeteries at Monastir, the cemetery in the foreground is French, 17 January 1917. © IWM Q 78321

An Austro-Hungarian mule train passing by a monument to German and Bulgarian dead. The inscription reads “Our Heroes” in German and Cyrillic alphabet. © IWM Q 86225

A German military cemetery near Cericani, Bosnia and Hercegovina, 1917. The nearest grave belongs to Oberjager F. K. Muller of the 3rd Company, Guard-Schutzen Battalion, died on 22 July 1917. © IWM Q 86565

A military cemetery of Austro-Hungarian prisoners near Uskub (Skopje), 1917. Note a cross with a word “Swabia”, frequently written on other crosses. © IWM Q 86467

… we will remember them!

Remembrance

With Bonfire Night a rather damp memory we are now very firmly in the season of remembrance, although for our Society remembrance of the achievements, suffering and sacrifice of the British Salonika Force – and associated organisations, individuals and even animals in the campaign – is ongoing and not restricted to a specific time of year. Even so, members and friends will be gathering at war memorials across the country and at CWGC cemeteries further afield in the coming week.

I’ve long been fascinated by war memorials, which come in different shapes and styles: the one where I grew up (Barnet) has a splendid ‘winged victory’, but as she’s topless it was a bit embarrassing!; my local one (Dereham, Norfolk) is a sober Cenotaph lookalike; Bishop’s Stortford memorial once caught my eye because it has items of soldiers’ kit carved in stone; I rather like the one in Cambridge, showing a fully equipped ‘Tommy’ swinging along in fine style with victors’ laurels slung on his rifle. I think, though, that my favourite is in Rawtenstall, Lancashire.

I have mentioned it before, but make no excuse for including it again. What makes it so interesting is that it isn’t just about the army, or even the wider armed services in the First World War, nor is it dedicated to ‘The Glorious Dead’ alone, but has a much wider dedication. Entitled Tribute of Honour, it reads as follows:

To the men who made the supreme sacrifice, to the men who came back and to those who worked at home to win safety for the Empire. 1914-1918.

No mention of women specifically in the dedication, but they certainly feature in the friezes around the base of the memorial, which I shared with you on an International Women’s Day. For this remembrance season here are all the friezes, showing many aspects of the war effort at home and overseas.

We will remember them all.

Directory of WW1 Websites


Canada’s contribution to the First World War cannot be underestimated. More than 650,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in the war with 66,000 killed and over 172,000 wounded. Such was the contribution, Canada had its own signature on the Treaty of Versailles. In Salonika, Canadian medical services provided care at Nos. 4 and 5 General Hospitals, and Nos. 1 and 3 Stationary Hospitals (see this earlier post).  It’s of no surprise therefore that Canadians continue to research this significant period of their history.

One such research group is the CEF Study Group – an Internet discussion forum for the study, sharing of information and discussion related to the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in the Great War.

The CEF Study Group has just published its 2022 ‘List of Recommended Great War Websites’. Our own site is included among a directory of 2000+ websites, grouped into 31 logical sections. We are described thus: “This very detailed and multi-layered Blog site has numerous theme ‘buttons’ which take the reader deeper into the topic. Site is mature and very well organized.” (A recognition of former editor Robin Braysher’s work, I should add).

Readers may well find this a useful resource for research. The directory can be downloaded here.