WHEN I started giving slide shows of Romsey some 50 years ago, most of the audience was older than me, and knew a lot more about the town than I did. 

I had lived here some six years and being a Londoner had much to learn about living in a small town.

Now I am older than most of my audience and can remember events in Romsey that took place before some of my audience was born.

Currently I am making an in-depth study of Romsey and district during the years from 1939 to 1945 – the years of World War Two. I am relying on the Romsey Advertiser for much of my material which is very informative, despite the restrictions placed upon it by censorship.

In those years, the paper rarely published photographs, and there is a general lack of photos of ordinary civilian life during the war. Thus I can find no picture of any Women’s Institute activity, despite the important role members played during the war.

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Mr and Mrs W. F. Cook who were Master and Matron at The Gardens, with their daughter Hilda, who was a nurse there (Image: Romsey Local History Society)

There are a few pictures of the local Women’s Voluntary Service, and one or two of the managers of the Emergency Hospital. This hospital, at The Gardens, was an extension of the Public Assistance Institution, that had been called the Workhouse until 1931.

During the war, parties were given for evacuees. Fire watching teams were organised and American and Canadian troops were quartered all over the place in the run-up to D-Day. Does anyone have pictures?

Alec Lawes has told me about security at one of the American camps alongside the Straight Mile.

This meant that when he was accompanying his grandfather delivering milk, they were accompanied in the camp by security personnel.

Thanks to a contact of Chris Levy, we have pictures of the extensive American supply depot at Lockerley, because the Americans were allowed to take photographs. Whether this would have been true in the early years of the war is unlikely. The British authorities rightly had not allowed photographs that might be sent to Germany.

There must be people who have written accounts of living in this area during the war, other than the delightful, published account by Maud Russell of Mottisfont. Romsey Local History Society would very much like to have copies of such accounts whether long or short. They can be sent to us c/o Romsey Town Hall and marked for my attention. We can copy them and return the originals or accept outright gifts.

If you can help with our collection, we would be most grateful for either written memories or photographs.