Review of Norman Wilson's book Youlgreave Remembers, by Julie Bunting
This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 15th August 2005, and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.
YOULGRAVE REMEMBERS
This publication is a special commemorative issue of The Bugle, a
monthly magazine covering the Youlgrave area. A collection of largely
personal records of wartime memories, Youlgrave Remembers captures
events of the Second World War as they touched upon this village and
its close neighbours.
The first chapter honours 10 local young men who laid down their lives
in that war. We are shown their smiling faces and can even read the
diary of a soldier who left a first-hand account of the D-Day Landing.
Some who survived the war add their own thoughtful recollections of
what one man calls ‘the longest four years of my life’. A former
Sherwood Forester tells of returning home on leave only to experience
the ‘Youlgrave blitz’ - a subject which has a chapter to itself.
Soldier bridegrooms and war brides illustrate their stories with
personal photographs, while one lady relates her husband's experiences
as a Japanese PoW.
Accounts of ‘Life on the Home Front’ include the Home Guard,
evacuees, German and Italian PoWs in the Peak and, very topically at
present, Identity Cards.
Youlgrave Remembers has been researched and most enjoyably
written by Norman Wilson, President of Youlgrave branch of the British
Legion. Copies are available from Youlgrave Post Office and local
shops, price £1. To order by post, send a cheque for £1.75, made
payable to The Bugle, to The Bugle, Englemere, Brookleton, Youlgrave,
Derbyshire DE45 1UT.
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[Created 31 Jul 2005. Last updated 24 Oct 2008 - 11:02 by Rosemary Lockie]