8th June: Victualling Hut Poster
(click to enlarge)
An item in the Victualling Hut which I found rather moving was a poster which (according to Nick de Rothschild) may have been created for the 50th D-Day Anniversary exhibition in 1994. It is more likely that people who had been at Exbury during the HMS Mastodon Days were still alive and able to contribute memories then. Also in those times, although desktop publishing existed, it was less commonly available and less likely to be used. Exhibits in the D-Day 80 exhibition at the Palais des Vaches were more polished but perhaps not so personal!
I have transcribed the three hand written panels.
1. “This is what the main entrance to Exbury House looked like in wartime. Every Sunday the ship’s company assembled here for Divisions. Capt. Swinley stood at the top of the half circle of steps, between the elegant central columns. The wrens were lined up at the near side, and the naval contingent at the far side of the photograph. Sometimes if the L.C.Ts were up the river, their unfortunate crews were obliged to attend. I can still remember Capt Swinley marching along their ranks, barking “Shave! Haircut! Haircut! Shave!…
“The other great difference was the loss of most of the really old trees in the great gale. During the war these wonderful old trees were everywhere, some noble, and some with a most extraordinary benign aura. They seemed to instil peace, comfort, and immense benevolence, “..soothing the troubled hearts of Gods and men”. It was the ideal place to set forth on the high adventure, horror and eventual triumphant conclusion of World War II.“
2. “This used to be the main entrance gate to H.M.S. Mastodon, complete with armed naval sentry. The cottage was the guard-house, and Regulating Office was near where the caravan is in the photograph.
“Every weekend lorries set off from here with liberty men bound for the delights of Southampton, the N.A.F.F.I. Club, shopping, cinema, etc.; and weekend or long-leavers set off from Southampton to every part of the British Isles.”
3. “Was this the pathway beckoning to Gilbury Hard and the boats, or to the tennis courts, or to a whole valley of azaleas, or, by stepping off the path, to the magical sylvan delights of the forest of Arden?
“You could almost hear, just out of sight…. “and this our life, exempt from public haunt…” * being declaimed by a R.A.D.A. trained Duke. And there were Rosalinds and Celias, Orlandos and Olivers, a few melancholy Jacques, Audreys, Touchstones and a whole cloud of courtiers, all of us swirled up into a more fantastic scenario than Shakespeare could ever have imagined.
Nostalgia could have no fairer setting and of course we were nearly all very young.”
* Quote (and characters) from “As You Like it”… Duke Senior upon his introduction in Act 2, Scene 1