LEST WE FORGET

British WW2 Veterans Attending Service of Remembrance at Kanchanaburi and Chungkai Cemetaries.


This weekend, a group of British veterans, accompanied by wives and families, embark on a two week tour of Singapore and Thailand, visiting places they possibly haven't seen since the Second World War.

The group is scheduled to arrive in Changi airport on the evening of Sunday 6th November and will attend a Memorial Service at Kranji Memorial on Tuesday. This will be followed by a trip to Changi Murals, Museum and Chapel before going for tea at the famous Raffles Hotel.

They will depart for Bangkok on Wednesday, where there will be a visit to the River Kwai before visiting Kanchanaburi and Chungkai Commonwealth War Cemeteries and travelling along the Burma-Siam ‘Death railway’ from Kanchanaburi to Namtok.

The tour includes a visit to Hellfire Pass and Museum before attending two Services of Remembrance on the Saturday at Kanchanaburi and Chungkai War Cemeteries.

November 13th is the British Embassy held Service of Remembrance at Kanchanaburi and Chungkai Cemeteries, where the group will meet up with other FEPOW veterans, as well as British Embassy staff.

Other features of this tour include travelling by long-tail boats along the River Kwai to spend the rest of that day exploring and meeting up with other veterans from various parts of the world.

There will be an afternoon's short tour of Bangkok with a canal cruise and visit to the Temple of Dawn, plus a trip to the Grand Palace and Rose Gardens before resting up for a day in preparation for the return trip home by overnight flight from Bangkok to Heathrow, via Dubai.

For further information about this or other tours, contact Ted Cachart or John Babbage at World War Two Heritage.

Tel: 01582 737152
Mobile: 07543 550 660.
Website: http://www.worldwartwoheritage.com/

NYK Media
www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk

Life Takes Some Strange Turns, Indeed.

Everything About Frugal Living is Colourful!

The soup is made, the bread is baked, the washing is hanging out on the line and there's been some form of military exercise going on in the skies above us, recently.

If the cat hadn't woken me at dawn, I'd have missed the glorious sunrise which, in turn, would have meant that I'd have missed the camouflage coloured helicopters that whirled and droned as they flew over our roof at very low altitude. I almost wished I had been in one of the attic rooms at the time of the 'Frugaldom fly past', so I could have waved at the pilots through the Velux window!

But I digress.

Once again, my frugal research has lead me into previously uncharted waters. Or rather, more free forums!

Having only recently learned about Ted Cachart and his mission to rally the veteran troops to make one final assault on the Heroes Return 2 lottery funding before it ends, I seem to have ended up researching more than just wartime living and lottery funded tours for the WW2 veterans.

I soon found myself wandering into a site called 'World War II Talk' and ended up in their forums. That's right, my cherished handful of readers, I joined more forums!

All this frugal living and vegetable growing had led me into wartime-themed discussions about the 'Dig for Victory' schemes and all the money-saving ways adopted by our relatives during those bleak times. I blame my gran for my frugalist attitude; she is a great one for saving every penny, having lived through those war years.

So, what did I find on the WW2 talk forum that interested me so much?

Well, first of all, I found more of those real, live veterans, the guys (and, lest we forget, the gals) who donned the uniforms and went to war so that we could all be here, in relative safety, admiring the sunrises and sunsets at our leisure. The Internet truly is an awesome place for learning new stuff!

But that's not all I found - I discovered a link to a copy of the Ministry of Agriculture's Dig for Victory leaflet on yet another site, called 'Earthly Pursuits'.

I find all of this very interesting and the above leaflet may well become the focus of my attention for future developments in the new Frugaldom gardens - otherwise known as my microholding.

As for my soup kitchen, well, I've been known as the 'soup dragon' since 1985, so that's never going to go away anytime soon. In fact, I'll bookmark it as the title for my 'Soup eBook'. (There you go, Dave - I do listen sometimes!)

So you really do still find this a bit boring? I should hope not!

The most exciting thing I happened across during yesterday's virtual exploration was an image of a sheet of newspaper that had been first published in 1943 - I'm now trying to ascertain if the soldier in the grainy photograph is actually...  my grandad!

NYK Media
www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk

Please Help Spread the Word Before this Money is Gone

Well Earned Travel, a Fitting Tribute and Funding to Make it all Possible.

Frugal living is something that many of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents have been familiar with for years. This lifestyle is nothing new to them and they can certainly teach us a thing or two about household budgeting after what they have been through during The War.

Making the most of whatever was available, adopting a waste not, want not attitude and trying their best to eke out every penny was all part of a normal day. This has never been more apparent than during wartime.

Vegetable growing, sewing, dressmaking, batch cooking for their hungry families and keeping the home fires burning may have been essential to survival. Meanwhile, husbands, fathers and sons would be in far off places, facing the challenges and dangers of war. Back then, there were no such luxuries as computers, globally networked mobile phones or public telephony - communications were whatever brief notes could be scribbled and sent to comfort loved ones and offer a tiny fragment of reassurance to those back home. It really is amazing just how much we take for granted nowadays when we get down to thiking about it all.

The Dig for Victory scheme was introduced as soon as World War II began, meaning that every available space back home had to be turned over to food production. Stores would never last the entire nation  for six months, let alone years, so allotments began springing up everywhere.

Looking back, it is difficult to imagine how people coped living with the stresses of a war-torn nation while trying to carry on with life in the absense of many of the able-bodied men. The fight was as much here as anywhere else, only here it was a fight for survival in a slightly different way. Life was a struggle.

All of those survivors deserve recognition and all deserve to be able to afford to visit those far-flung places where they once fought or where loved ones lost their lives. Hopefully, the following will be of help to some. All that I ask is that you spread the word to all concerned before this funding is gone.

Heroes Return 2 is a £17 million scheme providing funding to WWII veterans, their wives or husbands, widows or widowers and, where needed, accompanying carers to visit the overseas areas where World War II veterans saw active service.

Launched in 2004 as part of the Big Lottery Fund's Veterans Reunited programme, the scheme has already helped thousands of UK veterans to revisit battlefields where they once fought and for widows, spouses and carers to witness where it all happened.

Many fought and died to defend our nation in order that we might enjoy freedom and safety. We have what we have because of our wartime heroes. It is only natural that we should make every effort to ensure all those affected can afford to make the trip to pay a final and fitting tribute to their loved ones who lost their lives in the name of this country.

Grants of up to *£5,500 are available to veterans resident in the UK and Republic of Ireland who fought with or alongside British forces in WWII. Widows and widowers of veterans are also eligible, as are carers and spouses traveling with veterans.

Ted Cachart, himself a WW2 veteran who has successfully been through the funding process, is more than willing to help anyone through their application process. Ted can be contacted via any of the following:

Tel: 01582 737152
Mobile: 07543 550 660 
Email: info@worldwartwoheritage.com

Please help spread the word before funding ends in January 2012.


*£5500 is the total for a husband and wife as well as a carer to the far east.

Please feel free to print this blog post and redistribute it to anyone who may not know about the scheme or even to your local newspapers, radio and/or TV stations. Full details regarding the funding available from the Big Lottery Fund website.