Hello again. I hope you are all well and getting jabbed in readiness for a bit of summer weather and a degree of freedom. We have not been able to safely hold any meetings for a year now but perhaps by June we might be in a position to. Keep your eye on our website for details. http://www.willenhallhistory.co.uk/society  

Since my article on the Willenhall Home Guard in the I am pleased to say that information from Short Heath resident Frank Greenwood led me to speak to Cyril Boys' son Chris who explained that the video copy I was seeking of the old Home Guard film had been of very poor quality and lost over the years. However my article attracted the attention of Janet Newey who at that time was clearing her late fathers house and had come across old photo's and documents some of which related to his spell in the Willenhall Home Guard. We are hoping in time to get some copies of these for our archive.  

Now for this issue I will pose the question about a nice Naval plaque on the wall in Willenhall library which is often unnoticed and has a brass plate attached that is in part unreadable due to heavy polishing.

This would seem to read, "PRESENTED BY THE LORDS AND COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY TO WILLENHALL URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL TO COMMEMORATE THE ADOPTION OF H.M.S. LAVENDER DURING WARSHIP WEEK MARCH 1942"  During W.W.2 (1939-45)  city's, towns and villages organized 'Warship Weeks' to raise money to meet the costs of providing a particular navy ship.

The aim was that large cities would raise enough money for an aircraft carrier or battleship and larger towns cover the costs of cruisers and destroyers. Small towns and villages were set a figure relative to their size and would attempt to raise the required funds. Once enough money had been raised for the ship the local authority would 'adopt it'.

Local organizations, Womens Institutes, churches and schools would then provide additional comforts for the crews. This was usually in the form of knitted socks, gloves and balaclavas. Children would often write letters and send cards to the crew. When possible officers and men from the adopted ship would visit the local community and to celebrate their visit there would often be a parade. Willenhall, being a relatively small town, meant it would be chosen to support one of the smaller fighting ships known as corvettes and as all these ships were named after flowers we were allocated H.M.S. Lavender (K60)  

In total there were 294 corvettes built and I doubt even Monty Don could think of that many flowers. Since one was named H.M.S. Privet one wonders if the navy were struggling with this unforeseen problem. (reminds me of the old radio show The Navy Lark). The purpose of these vessels was to produce something small enough, at 208 feet in length, that could be built in British ship yards and be suitable for convoy protection.

Although it was intended that these Flower Class ships would be used in our east coast waters it was very soon changed to Atlantic convoy duties, mainly for anti-submarine warfare, hence they carried quite sophisticated electronic detection equipment and a large number of depth charges as well as a compliment of deck guns including 'pom pom' anti-aircraft guns. Due to their top speed of only 16 knots these corvettes could not catch U boats who could manage 17 knots so they were directed where possible to try ramming the U boats so making them dive which greatly reduced their speed and enabled depth charges to be used on them.

  H.M.S.Lavender was one of the early flower class vessels, her keel being laid in April,1940 in the yard of Alexander Hall, of Aberdeen and she launched in November,1940. Commissioned in May,1941 her first commander was Lt.Com. Jackson Whayman. Most of the vessels were crewed by reservists and some had captains from the merchant navy. The ships complement was originally set at 90 but as the war went on this was often doubled and sailors accounts of life aboard are grim. Since Lavender was an early design she lacked the sea-going handling of the later corvettes that had been modified to cope with the Atlantic conditions and was described as being able to roll on wet grass.

Forty degrees to each side apparently and it took new crew members some weeks to get used to the motion sickness. This sounds terrible. Due to lack of bunks they had to sleep on tables  and lockers and never had perishable food managing on corned beef and powdered potatoe.  .It was always cold and wet even below decks and the toilet, known as 'the head', was a joy. Situated in the fo'c'sle, (sharp end) it consisted of a tube that whatever went down it fell into the sea. Fine until you were ploughing directly ahead into a rough sea and the bows went downwards at which point the sea shot straight up into the toilet.  It is reported that toilet paper was often not needed!  

There are no actual submarine 'kills' recorded for Lavender but on the 17th.March 1943 she did rescue 34 survivors from the Panamanian merchantman 'Granville' that had been sunk by U338. But then it was not all about sinking U boats, but the tonnage saved, which for a starving nation was the first priority. Just for the record the Flower class did sink 47 U boats and 4 Italian submarines whilst we lost 36 corvettes. 

What happened to H.M.S. Lavender? She was sold off in 1946 to become a merchant ship and finally in 1948 was sold to the Netherlands, where she became a whaling ship renamed Eugene Vinkle.  

Looking at one of our books, 'Willenhall at War' I see Doreen Lewis told of how she was a pupil at Albion Road School during the war and was knitting a scarf for the crew of H.M.S. Bandit. I've looked this up and find it was a Royal Navy tug but unconnected with Willenhall as for as I can see, but perhaps their is someone out there  that knows better.  

One final request. I have been asked by a lady from Summer Hayes village if I know anyone that can show her how to operate her 8mm film projector as she would like to see again her old family films. If you can help please give me a ring on 01902 843006. Bye for now. Bob.