Clare Lerner started as a first aider in the East End. Bombs fell, walls crumbled, and Clare barely slept. The experience inspired her to co-found the Country Hospitality Scheme. Such a scheme allowed first aiders like Clare to relax in the countryside for a weekend, and to return to London refreshed.
How did you become involved?
We spent 24 hours on and 24 off. We had cots to sleep on, and meals, but you didn’t leave the hospital.” What did you do?
Any special memories?” So there we were, with all these letters, and two women. We then had to get people to go. Here were all these hostesses just clamouring for the brave civil defence workers and not one on hand to send.
You found out what their interests were. You weren’t going to send a little cockney who wanted to be near a big town somewhere deep in the country; he wanted a sort of local pub and things like that. And you had to get in touch with the hostesses. We did have a few bed-wetters, which hostesses didn’t care too much about, as you can imagine, but this is all par for the course. But apart from that it all went very well. Daphne Du Maurier was one of our hostesses, when she was at Fowey. The whole idea of the vacations, and getting people out of London, was to prevent breakdown. If the civil defence of London had broken down, England would have fallen. So that was the Country Hospitality Scheme and the three of us worked like dogs. [It] become a permanent part of the Joint War Organisation. “ |
FactsPeople who lived in the East End of London were hit badly by air raids during the Blitz, because their houses were around the docks, which were a particular target. 10,000 high explosive bombs fell on London in September 1940, mostly in Stepney, Poplar, Bermondsey, Southwark, Lambeth, Deptford, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Holborn and the City. Find out more about the Bombing of UK Cities. FactsDuring the Blitz, people had to get up very early to get to work because transport was badly affected. As well as this, many people undertook duties after work, or simply couldn’t leave work because of an air raid. Grace Lister worked at a first aid post underneath Guy’s Hospital in London: “Sometimes we couldn’t change shifts for the raids were so bad that the on-coming shift couldn’t get in and we couldn’t get out. Sometimes you were there for twenty-four hours. We never went to bed all those years. We had to lie on stretchers or deckchairs but we managed.” FactsFirst aid posts were intended to treat people slightly wounded as a result of air raids. They were usually set up in adapted buildings or in Casualty Receiving Hospitals. Each first aid post had three sections: one for receiving and sorting casualties, a second for giving treatment and a third where patients could rest before being sent home or to hospital. Find out more about First Aid Posts. |