Kings Arms Hotel
30 High Street
Old Amersham
(PLEASE NOTE THE SPEAKER/SUBJECT CHANGE)
“Homefires and Havens – Amersham during WWII” is a talk by Alison Bailey of Amersham Museum.
Despite the national economic downturn, in many ways Amersham was booming in the 1930s with new Metroland developments, the arrival of ‘talkies’ at the Regent Cinema and Sally Latimer’s Playhouse Theatre. But after months of speculation war against Germany was declared on Sun 3 Sep 1939 and everything changed overnight. Sandbags appeared piled up at the front of the shops, gas masks were issued and soon petrol and food rationing were introduced.
80 years after the war ended, this talk looks at our local stories, including fundraising to buy a submarine, spies who trained in nearby stately homes, the circus animals that lived in Chalfont St Giles and the evacuees and émigrés who found a safe haven here in the Chiltern countryside.
Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available from 7.30pm. The talk starts at 8.00pm. No booking necessary. Guests and new members welcome.