Wednesday August 15th. V.J.Day
The announcement of an end to the war with Japan caused some local confusion. Many had waited for the declaration of the end to the fighting on Tuesday evening and failed to hear the early news on the radio the following morning that a two day holiday was granted for the occasion Many people went off to work only to find the factory or office closed. Bakers shops that did open for a short time were soon sold out as no extra supplies of flour had been allocated. Mothers called it a ‘Q’ holiday. Late night celebrating revellers were witness to the fire at the Palace cinema, Slough, which was gutted in spite of the efforts of the firefighters.
Over one hundred men and women from the village served in the armed forces of whom twelve died on active service. The acute shortage of houses when the war ended made any suitable empty building attractive to the homeless. Vacated military camps in the Slough / Windsor area became occupied by returning servicemen with their families to be referred to as squatters. The disastrous floods of 1947 covered the Dorney Common with several feet of water from which the camp occupants were rescued by boat.
This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham.
