Armoured pigeons, film premieres and the legendary 4 penny bash

More and more, I'm thinking of realizing that they didn't know at the start of the war what was going to happen, that we were going to get off relatively lightly, so the preparations they were making, you know.

And the, um, of course, the bombing at the Brig O' Wee, they thought that was the first of many.

So my grandmother, um, Kate, was president of the women's branch of the Women's Voluntary Services, Stromness branch.

So I was looking up the newspaper reports on, uh, what they did, and there's things like preparing emergency centers.

They'd had this list of the housewives and who would take people in if the need arose, and there were, making up centers where they would have stocks of blankets and food and so on, and then this list would be published so everybody knew ahead of time where they could go.

Down near the, the school, there's the house that used to be the chu- it was built as the Free Church there, the Kirk Hall as I knew it, and it was commandeered during the war as a food store, and that was food for emergencies that could be used.

There's...

My parents swore to me this was true, that one of the preparations for possible invasion was a sign written in German at the top of the Brae of Clouster [laughs], the theory being that any invading forces would stop to read it and could be ambushed [laughs].

But they, uh...

I've never heard anyone else say that, but [laughs]...

The main story from the, the women's work in Stromness I remember is the 4 Penny Bash.

This was actually not the WVS apparently.

It was the women of the Stromness churches realized the need for soldiers who were in town, not the ones that were staying in Stromness particularly, but the ones who were coming in on business and so on, and put in a sort of cafe for them.

So my grandmother's turn apparently was Thursday afternoon, and every day but Sunday every afternoon.

This was up in the commu- what's now the community center, then was St. Peter's Church, in their church hall, where the flower show was latterly.

Servicemen described how you walked into this room and you saw mountains, heaps, piles of rolls and scones and baps and cakes, and they give you a large plate, and you could take anything you wanted.

And if you could eat it, you could have it.

And- They said finally when your, uh, s- belt was comfortably tight, they would accept the sum of four pence.

[laughs] So I remembered her spending the morning finishing her baking, and then she'd in the afternoon.

And she'd be serving up tea and working in the s- small steamy kitchen, and then washing up till about 9:00 at night, you know.

And, uh, so they worked hard at it, but it was deeply appreciated.