Part One dealt with preparations for, and the early months of, the war here
Part Two covered 1940-41 here.
Part Three Covered 1942-3 here.
February 1944
Mr Ball of Westfield Medmenham is calling for local farmers to donate animals to a charity auction at Reading in aid of the Red Cross.
April 1944
In the last 12 months, 43 Marlow families have experienced their family members being held as prisoners of war.
The Marlow Red Cross commanded by Julia Wethered of the High Street, plans to open a medical supply depot in the coming weeks.
The Ministry of Fuel reduces the amount of coal and coke that households can order, acknowledging that for some the new limits will not be enough for their needs.
Expectant mothers can now order an additional rational book for their unborn child so that they can access extra eggs, milk and meat (when available) during their pregnancy.
May 1944
A series of fundraising events take place in the town as part of the national Salute The Soldier Week fundraising drive. The aim is to encourage both cash donations and (in particular) investment in war bonds and savings bonds. To sell such savings products the savings committee hut in Marlow Bottom will open every day. The village has set its own target of £300 raised. Dwight D Eisenhower sends a letter to the town as a whole wishing Marlow luck with their efforts. His letter is itself auctioned off as part of the fundraising and is sold for £3 9 shillings. Novelist Rebecca West takes part in a charity quizz event at Court Garden as part of the week. A town parade to mark the week is joined in by 1300 people. The villagers of Marlow Bottom raise more than double their £300 target, while Marlow as a whole raises an astonishing £290,000. Later in the year the government gives Marlow a plaque to commemorate this success but where this was put we do not know (somewhere in town centre was the planned place).
June 1944
Marlow Bottom's Red Cross volunteers arranged a fete to raise money for interned British residents of the Channel Islands.
July 1944
Marlow Urban District Council has a target of collecting 10,000 books from the town for paper recycling. Children from the Girls, Boys, Roman Catholic and private Dial Close schools are all dispatched to do door to door collections. Books of educational or antiquarian interest are not desired. Before the end of the month this target is exceeded by 2,000.
The volunteers at the British Restaurant in Marlow have been so overworked in recent months that there has been a fear that some will breakdown. The restaurant has had to stop serving suppers as a result, and is making a loss but at first refuses to follow official guidance as to raising their prices as some Marlow people cannot afford to pay more. In November losses are so great they are forced to increase prices against their wishes.
August 1944
Harry Belcher of West Street is fined for missing 5 Home Guard drill sessions (he was compulsorily enlisted into the Guards). His wife has been ill and in need of attendance plus as a private hire car driver his business is dependant on him being available in the evenings when drill practice is held. Harry feels he will lose his business if he keeps being called to practice when he needs to work and points out that he is hardly a war shirker - he joined up to fight in the last war when underage and suffered captivity as a prisoner of war then. Him and his wife have already lost their son in the current war and clearly with his grief and financial worries he has had enough. He tells those trying him that he has done enough for his country.
October 1944
Leading Aircraft woman Betty Sweetman of Oak Tree Avenue has been working at RAF Fighter Command as an operations room "plotter" but has now been posted to similar operations in France.
November 1944
Mrs Allen of Holland Road writes to the Bucks Free Press complaining about the terrible food in the British Restaurant at Marlow. Her veg was undercooked and her treacle tart dry and hard. Wycombe and Maidenhead she says have fine restaurants but not Marlow.
December 1944
Helga Stene, an escapee from Norway, gives a talk on life under the Nazis to a large audience at Court Garden.
Quarry Laundry organizes a Christmas Quizz to raise funds to buy every Marlow P.O.W 200 cigarettes. Any leftover funds are to go to their employees away serving in the war.
January 1945
The British Restaurant closes for good. Later this year it reopens as a canteen for schoolchildren.
The Marlow Bottom.W.I resolve to knit warm clothes for children in liberated countries.
February 1945
Marlow Urban District Council are on the urgent hunt for the blankets they gave out to the evacuees who came to the town, most of whom have now gone home, some probably with their blankets. The Ministry of Health has told the council that they will be charged for any blankets not collected and returned to the Ministry.
Car headlights can now be unmasked in a lifting of blackout regulations .
May 1945
May 7th - Germany unconditionally surrenders with the surrender coming into effect on the 8th, known as V.E Day. The official announcement comes over the radio. However everyone knows about the Allied victory already, and before the King's public address the town is festooned with flags and bunting and the churches have already hosted thanksgiving prayers.
The official announcement is broadcast in the cinema in Station Road and to the dancers at Court Garden at a quickly organized celebration event. A collection is made at the dance for POWs. Impromptu street parties spring up around the town before the surrender announcement, followed on V.E Day by more organized ones. One of the latter is in Glade Road and involves not only a tea in the street but sports and games in a nearby field for the children, a magic show, singing and dancing. Another tea is organized for children jointly by the mothers of lower Newtown Road and Dedmere Road. Mr and Mrs Hodges of Victoria Road organize a party to which those of Station Road are also invited. Poor Mrs Hodges, falls over in one of the associated running races and fractures her arm.
A hundred children from upper Newtown Road and Little Marlow Road attend a celebration tea in the church hall followed by games in the park.
At Whitsun a victory fete is held at the Red Cross hut at Marlow Bottom.
Prisoners of war returning home to recuperate after their release from medical treatment will temporarily get double rations every week to help them rebuild their strength.
Salvation Army band member Arthur Furmston returns home after over 5 years as a POW and is given a welcome home tea and social by other church members.
A special church service at All Saints gives thanks to the civilian volunteers that have helped during the war, as they are about to be dismissed. These and various youth groups gather and parade to the church beforehand.
Land girl Miss J Duncalffe gets a scarlet armband in honour of her four years continuous service at Seymour Court Farm.
July 1945
The parents of some of the last few child evacuees in Marlow have proved untraceable so they will need to stay for now.
August 1945
Victory over Japan is announced by the Prime Minister on the radio. The next two days are declared holidays but some Marlow people haven't heard the news and turn up for work anyway on the first day. Flags and bunting are again brought out across the town and people dance on the lawns of Court Garden. Thanksgiving services are held in the parish church and the Baptist church. Residents of South Place and Platts Row in Mill Road have a joint V.J Day street party complete with fireworks and a bonfire. The town's children are treated to a tea, sports competitions along with more informal games like pillow fighting and more fireworks. There are similar treats for children at Little Marlow.
Wethered's brewery have their own celebrations for their employees and families.
William Perry of Berwick Road dies after celebrating in the pub with his friends, drinking and dancing. When he gets home a little worse for wear he vomits and chokes as a result.
At Medmenham there is a garden party at the Vicarage, a dance in the village hall and a tea for the village children for V.J Day celebrations.
September 1945
Councillor Kibblewhite, hopes the Ministry of Agriculture will be able to give back Gossmore Recreation Ground as the town sorely needs space for football etc. At the moment a crop of clover is growing in it.
Mr Whalley of the Lawn is told by the council he must postpone plans to extend his home as due to the war labourers have been in very short supply and are more needed elsewhere in the town. In particular they are going to be building some long planned council houses in Seymour Park Road, which have had to be put off repeatedly because of labour and material supply problems.
October 1945
Marlow residents visit High Wycombe Guildhall to view a display of crucial war items secretly made in Wycombe during the war. These include tank and bomber plane parts.
November 1945
Memorial services are held as usual for the dead of the previous war. The Vicar in his address acknowledges that the recent war has robbed many of their last faith in God and they have turned from the church.
Late in 1945
Marlow building company Y.J Lovell is building "prefab" accommodation in Reading. These are an emergency response to war-derived housing shortages.
Some Sources=
Bucks Free Press 25th August 1944, 25th May 1945, 16th November 1945. Bucks Free Press Archives.
Personal Interview.
Bucks Herald 18th February 1944, British Library Archives, Via the BNA.
British Journal of Commerce, Post War Trading Edition, 1945. London.
