The Plough & Harrow
Monknash, Vale of Glamorgan
As I posted sometime ago, back in October I travelled down
to Southsea in Hampshire to attend the UK gathering of the 59th
(Staffordshire) Division Association a.k.a. The Friends of Thury Harcourt.
There it was my great pleasure to meet (for the first time with the exception
of Michele Guillerm) other people with a shared interest in and/or history with
the 59th Division.
One such chap was John James from Bridgend in South Wales.
At a quiet moment in the evening’s proceedings, he took me to one side and asked
what my diary looked like in December and would I be interested in travelling
to Wales to be a guest speaker at the annual Christmas gathering of a group of
friends that collectively go under the name of the ‘Back Tuesday Club’.
‘The Back Tuesday Club’ is I learned a collection of
likeminded individuals who meet weekly in a local pub for general chat and
discussion around issues military. Each year, their ranks are increased for a
planned trip to a theatre of war or some other site of military significance.
Their club shirts feature a roll call of manoeuvres completed to date (The
Western Front, Normandy, Arnhem, Waterloo and the Tower of London).... with the
exception of Waterloo these are all places where I too have spent time. The ‘Back
Tuesday’ term relates to the duration of these annual long weekend excursions.
It was with not a little trepidation that I accepted the
invitation. The trepidation stemmed from the subject matter. Whilst I am very
familiar now with my Grandfather’s service history as related in ‘A Pithead
Polar Bear’ I have never presented on the subject (to date Powerpoint
presentations have been confined to dry topics such as pharmaceutical drug
registration etc etc!). This was something entirely different.
Nevertheless, I think that I pulled it off and the group of
30 or so somewhat inebriated Welshmen (mostly from the Vale of Glamorgan
farming community), with whom I shared the evening in one of the bars of the
rather lovely Plough & Harrow pub in a place called Monknash, were very
appreciative.
What was especially pleasing for me was to be able to speak
at length about the 59th Division with John in the audience since
his father was in killed in action fighting with the Division (2/6th
South Staffordshire Regiment) on 8th July 1944 (two days before the
birth of John). He lies in Cambes-en-Plaine CWGC Cemetery, Normandy.
It is making such connections and sharing such personal
histories that I have found to be the most rewarding aspect of this project.
Yesterday I received a very nice email from the club:
Dear Adrian,
I apologise for the delay in emailing, but I thought you would be pleased to
learn of the universal appreciation given to your talk by the club members and
the other attendees at the gathering in the Plough & Harrow pub on the 19th
December 2017.
Everyone who attended felt the uniqueness and importance of what you were able
to tell us. Most of those assembled were born after 1945, and have no direct
experience of conditions during WW II. However, I think it is true to say that
everyone present has a keen understanding of its huge significance, and its
relevance to the well-being of those alive today.
As a group we make an annual excursion to some location that has some relevance
in terms of military history, usually relating to one or other of the two world
wars.
However, the relating of the experiences of a single individual who has endured
the horrors of war always adds a different perspective.
Finally, may we wish you well, and long may you give others the benefit of your
unique insights.
Yours Very Sincerely
Malcolm Lloyd
Back Tuesday Club
I would like to thank all of the members of The Back Tuesday
Club for the warm reception and kind words and to John for the initial invitation.
Cheers!
Adrian.
South Staffordshire Regiment headstone
Cambes-en-Plaine CWGC Cemetery.
