Breaking Down Social Barriers: The Home Guard

Jack Ford had been a conscript in the "First War" and at 41 years old in 1940 was deemed too old to be called up again, so joined the Home Guard in Rochdale. Having been trained in the use of a rifle he was able to tutor some of the less experienced members. These included Jim Welburn, a millowner (the contributor was told) from Norden, who befriended Jack. Jack was a window cleaner, so their paths would not have normally crossed in peacetime. Jim discovered that Jack's son, Brian, was planning to study English at university towards the end of the war. His wife, Emily, had studied English in Manchester about 30 years earlier. They gave Brian some of her books, which are still kept by the contributor. Apart from cementing social cohesion, life in the Rochdale Home Guard was largely uneventful. Jack related one particular story to the contributor. Avro Lancasters were manufactured in Chadderton between Oldham and Manchester. German pathfinders would drop flares on the moors outside Rochdale to guide the way for bombers to attempt to destroy the factory. The local Home Guard armed with buckets of water would douse the flares to foil the Luftwaffe. They also serve who carry buckets of water!