Making connections to the past - and to the future

Please note: this post is 141 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

In a few weeks, volunteers have already met so many wonderful people through their interactions with South London Cares. One of those great neighbours is Richard, who joined us for the first time last week at our Bermondsey comedy evening, and then again at our Social Club on Friday...

Richard's had a big impact on all the volunteers he's met so far (just like Becky, below) largely because of his amazing propensity for storytelling. Richard's stories are not those of children's fairytales or thrilling fiction - these stories are his history. One in particular struck a chord: the memory of first hearing that Britain had gone to war. After listening for a few minutes, SLC's Projects Officer Hannah realised that she had heard a similar story before, from her dad:

Richard's Story:

Every year on my birthday my parents rented a cottage in Whitstable. It was my 6th birthday this particular year. I was out on the beach shrimping when around lunchtime I got called to come in.

My father was telling us to be quiet and was listening to the radio intently. BBC home service was on and John Snag, who was a famous announcer in those days, came on with his deep, rich, serious voice.

He said we have a serious announcement: we are going over to 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister is going to speak to the nation. Neville Chamberlain came on and said 'I met with Herr Hitler, if we hadn't heard from them by 11am then a state of war would exist between our two countries'.

That was it: we had gone to war.

Tony's story:

I was playing outside on Duke's Drive building site with my friends. Someone said, 'There's a war started'.

I ran home and looked at my parents and said 'what's all this?'. We then sat and listened to Neville Chamberlain on the radio. I was 7 and didn't understand what war meant. For me it was then all about reading the newspapers each day to see if we had won. I can remember Churchill's voice always on the radio, 'We will never surrender'.

We felt so moved that Richard was willing to share his story with volunteers, and with all of us. To find that Hannah had such a similar story drives home that we are all connected in some way - and it is so important to form new connections so we can have these realisations regularly.