It was a stunning sight liveried in the black and gold
of the DCRN, Downshire County Railway Network, pulling the Prix Deluxe first-class
coaches, dining carriage, and sleeper cars, as well as second and third class
wagons, and it ran from Abbeyvale to all points North via Abbottsford,
Finchbottom and Nettlefield
In September 1939 best friends Lilian Baggott and
Amelia Bryan met cousins and best friends, Steve Matthews and
Bill Prendergast in a second-class
carriage on the Downshire Star heading out of Glasgow in the late afternoon
sunshine, bound for Downshire, and romance blossomed.
The girls were
returning home to be with their families while the boys had been ordered to
return to the Downshire Light Infantry barracks in Nettlefield.
They said their
goodbyes on the platform of Nettlefield Station and the girls reboarded the
train.
It was to be the last
time they would see the boys for the best part of 10 months.
Steve and Bill
re-joined their regiment within an hour of saying goodbye and left Downshire
the following day as part of the BEF, British Expeditionary Force, which was in
France two days later.
Amelia and Lilian
didn’t know for sure where the boys were, but all the gossip they were hearing
led them to believe they were in France or Belgium, so they waited anxiously
for news.
Most of the BEF spent
what was known as the “Phoney War” digging field defences on the Belgium/France
border until the 10th of May 1940 when the Battle of France began with a
massive German offensive which rocked them back on their heels.
While the boys waited
out the “Phoney Way” in fields of Northern France, Lilian and Amelia were
toiling in the fields of Downshire.
Before war broke out
Amelia was a librarian and Lilian worked as a clerk at the Tax office, but when
the BEF left for France, they joined the WLA (Women's Land Army) and were sent
to the Dulcets where they were, along with two other girls, assigned to
Trotwood’s Farm just outside of Dulcet St Mary, and were fortunate to be working
for Henry Trotwood, who was a kind and gentle man, because many farmers were
not.
The “Lightning War” of
the blitzkrieg bursting through the Ardennes Forest overwhelmed the front line
of the BEF and sent the British and French lines into disarray and fought
running skirmishes as they were forced to withdraw.
Eventually they were
forced back to the beaches of Dunkirk from where Steve and Bill were evacuated
on 2nd June after four days of hell, with both of them suffering from shrapnel
wounds.
Because of the sheer
numbers of casualties, the Military hospitals were swamped so a large number
ended up in Civilian Hospitals.
The good news for
Steve and Bill was that they were sent to St Lucy's Hospital in Sharpington
which was only 15 miles from Trotwood’s Farm, the bad news on the other hand
was that the girls didn’t find out until they had been there for over a week.
The moment they found
out they got the midday bus from Dulcet St Mary, and the hour they spent on the
bus was the longest of their lives.
The reunion was very
special and over the next two weeks they made the journey as often as they
could, which wasn’t often enough in all of their opinions.
The time came however
when they were both well enough to be discharged, and Amelia dreaded the moment
they would have to part again.
“I’m going to ask him
to marry me” Amelia said on the bus to Sharpington
“You’re going to do
what?” Lilian snapped
“I’m going to ask him
to marry me” she repeated
Now this was a very
bold statement given that she was the quiet one of the two and generally relied
on Lil for the boldness.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, as soon as their
leave is up, they’ll re-join their regiment and be sent off God knows where”
Amelia stated “And I’m not letting him go until we’ve…. You know”
“What?” Lilian asked
with puzzlement
“You know, what you do
on your wedding night” Amelia whispered
“Oh that” Lil said now
that the penny had dropped “Good point”
When they reached the
Hospital there were a group of patients sitting on the terrace and as soon as
the girls arrived, they separated Steve and Bill from the bunch and they both
proposed.
The boys having
accepted the rather unorthodox proposals there were still obstacles to be
overcome, Steve and Bill had to get permission from their CO to marry, and
Amelia needed her parents’ approval as she was only twenty years old, and a
special licence needed to be applied for.
Nothing however was
going to prevent Amelia from getting her prize, so the double wedding took
place at the Downshire Light Infantry Chapel in Nettlefield on the 20th of July
1940 and they travelled on the Downshire Star to Abbottsford and spent their
wedding night at the Regents Hotel.
One week later the
regiment left Downshire again.
The girls returned to
Trotwood’s farm and settled back into the routine by day and profuse letter
writing by night as the worked through harvest time and into the winter, Christmas
came and went and then in February came the news they had been dreading.
On the 5th of February
at Beda Fomm in Libya the Bren gun Carrier that Steve and Bill were
travelling in took a direct hit from a German 88mm shell, Bill Prendergast was
killed outright but Steve was hit in the chest with shrapnel and injured just
enough to mean his war was over.
It was an anxious time
for Amelia, with Steve being hospitalized so far away, but she couldn’t show it
as she had to be strong for Lilian who was heartbroken, and quite often
inconsolable.
But the two of them
threw themselves into their work, and at the end of the day Lilian would cry herself
to sleep and Amelia would write another letter.
It was late May by the
time Steve got back to Downshire and had requested he be convalesced at St
Lucy’s in Sharpington so Amelia could visit him.
When word first
reached her that he was only a bus ride away she was floating on air, and the
first person she wanted to share the news with was Lilian, but she didn’t want
to hurt her, it would feel as if she were taunting her with her good fortune.
However, Lilian was
not a fool, and she could tell by her best friend’s body language that she was
hiding good news, so she followed her into the stables.
“You don’t need to spare
my feelings” she said startling her friend
“What?”
“Don’t feel guilty for
being happy” she explained, and they embraced
“I’m glad for you”
For ten minutes the
two stood in embrace and gently sobbed in the stable.
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