Alexander so proud to aid war effort at the coal face

Posted by Robert Alcock on May 9, 2008 9:00 AM

A RETIRED church minister from Southport has told of his extraordinary career path, which took him from the coal pit to the pulpit.
The Reverend Alexander Tee, 82, said he was “very happy” to receive a special Veterans’ Badge, honouring the three-and-a-half years he spent as a wartime Bevin Boy.
From April 1943 he worked at Dumbreck colliery, as part of the wartime scheme that directed labour into the nation’s coalmines.
Rev Tee, who lives on High Park Road, told LookBack he had volunteered to serve the war effort underground rather than in the Armed Forces.
He made that decision because he had already realised his vocation to become a clergyman, and he furthered his religious training by taking a series of correspondence courses during his posting at Dumbreck.
Yet becoming a Bevin Boy was far from a safe option, explained Rev Tee, who worked at the pit’s loading machine. “When you are underground, there are dangers everywhere,” he said.
Among his memories of the pit was the filthy black dust – which led the workers to constantly chew and spit out – and of travelling half-a-mile underground to reach the level at which he worked.
He recalled: “Once a tub of coal came off the rails and I tried to get it back on again and strained my back.
“There was a good, happy spirit among the miners – you are there helping one another.”

Rev Alexander Tee with the miner’s lamp he used at Dumbreck colliery between 1943 and 1947

During his service as a Bevin Boy, Rev Tee continued living at his home in the small town of Kilsyth, located midway between Glasgow and Stirling in North Lanarkshire.
On being de-mobbed in 1947, he went straight into the ministry of the Elim Pentecostal Church, where he trained as an evangelist.
Key to his role was opening new churches in towns where the Elim Church had no congregation.
In 1972, Rev Tee came to Southport as the senior minister at the Elim Pentecostal Church in Manchester Road.
From his base in the resort he opened Elim Churches in Birkenhead, Bootle, Rochdale, Wallasey and West Kirby.
Another central aspect of Rev Tee’s career was raising money for needy children overseas.
He made 10 visits to Africa to help in the development of orphanages – including in Nairobi, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Malawi – and played a key role in the construction of a large orphanage in south India.
Rev Tee said: “Only in the last year have I dropped the number of engagements I carry out all over the country. I just love the work so much.”

BEVIN BOYS FACTS

The ‘Bevin Boys’ scheme ran between 1943 and 1948 and involved recruiting men aged between 18 and 25 years to work in coal mines rather than serve in the armed forces.
It was named after Ernest Bevin, then minister of labour and later foreign secretary.
Some 48,000 men were either selected or volunteered under the scheme, performing vital but largely unrecognised service in the coal mines. Bevin Boys received no medals, nor the right to return to their original jobs, unlike other servicemen.
Famous former Bevin Boys include DJ Sir Jimmy Savile, the late comedian Eric Morecambe and dramatist Peter Shaffer.
If you think you may be eligible for a Bevin Boys award or any other armed forces veterans award, complete a veterans badge application form available by calling the Veterans Agency helpline on 0800 169 2277 or 01253 866043, or by visiting www.veteransagency.co.uk

Ernest Bevin, wartime Minister for Labour, after whom the Bevin Boys scheme was named

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Nephew recalls with pride selfless soldier uncle Alfred

Posted by Robert Alcock on May 2, 2008 9:02 AM

AN AINSDALE man has uncovered the tragic story of how his uncle went from Southport to fight and die in South Africa more than a century ago.

Retired furniture remover Bev Gregory has drawn on family memories and archival research to produce a compelling account of how Alfred J. Gregory’s life came to an horrific end during the Boer War.

He was struck down by typhoid in the Orange Free State and perished on May 18, 1900, aged only 28.

Alfred J Gregory was buried in Boshof, South Africa, after his death from typhoid in 1900

Alfred and his Imperial Yeomanry comrades were in the country to combat Boer fighters battling for independence from the British Empire, and had set up camp near the capital Bloemfontein.

He became desperately feverish and was taken to Boshof hospital, where an ultimately futile attempt was made to treat him with drugs.

Bev told LookBack: “As a good Christian, Alfred saw that there were many sick and wounded men arriving at the hospital and it was typical of him to give up his bed so that others may use it – but it was to lead to his own demise.”

The contrast with jovial scenes in Southport less than six months earlier could not have been greater.

On January 6, 1900, Bridge Street resident Alfred signed up to fight in present-day South Africa at Southport Temperance Institute on London Street.

The recruitment of him and others was celebrated with a banquet at the Cambridge Hall (now Southport Arts Centre) 12 days later.

The Southport Visiter produced a glowing report of “one of the finest gatherings ever held in the hall”, which was funded by a public collection and organised by the town’s Mayor, Mr Alderman T. P. Griffiths. Even the menu was recorded by the Visiter, with officers able to feast on roast pheasant with bread sauce and crumbs and their men on roast mutton with onion sauce.

Alfred J. Gregory was buried in Boshof, South Africa, after his death from typhoid in 1900

Soon after, Alfred said farewell to his mother and three sisters and spent a month at sea before landing in Cape Town and a land in the grip of the Second Boer War of 1899- 1902.

The siege of the town of Ladysmith by Boer troops had recently been relieved after 120 days and the British had suffered a clutch of heavy defeats.

Initial experiences of conflict left a deep mark on Alfred, a devout Christian.

Bev said: “Alfred had seen some terrible things for the first time in his life and in a letter to his good friend the Rev F. Sinker (from the Christ Church Bible Class in Southport), he said he was amidst many evils and had seen suffering that had brought tears to his eyes.”

The disease that claimed the life of Alfred only months later was rife among the British contingent. Almost 1,000 troops died in the outbreak at Bloemfontein before it burnt itself out at the beginning of April.

SOLDIER, seaman, trader and devout Christian – Alfred J. Gregory was all these things during his short life.

He was born in Oxford in January 1872 and his family took up residence at 29 Upper Duke Street in Southport in 1881.

After attending St Paul’s Mixed School in Belmont Street until the age of 13, he joined the Merchant Navy.

On his return to the town in 1898 he opened a shop at 11 Princes Street with a works store on Upper Aughton Road.

An advert in the Southport Directory dating from 1900 read: Gregory, Alfred J. (Farmers Supply Stores) – saddler, tarpaulin and window-blind manufacturer, rope and twine dealer.

Emotional tribute was paid to Alfred when fellow members of the Christ Church Men’s Bible Class in Southport learned off his death thousands of miles away.

His friend Rev Sinker told worshippers at a special service: “The news of his death from enteric fever (typhoid) at Boshof came as an awful shock last week.

“I shall never forget with what intense enthusiasm we wished him Godspeed on January 14 in this very hall, as we gave him our offerings of love and admiration.

Bev Gregory holds up a copy of his uncle Alfred’s enlistment papers outside Southport Temperance Institute, where he signed up to fight in the Boer War in 1900

“Little did we know that we would never see his face again, and hear his cheery laugh, or receive that hearty grip of his hand.

“He was a man of God, fine and unselfish, and had the heart of a little child.

“He heard his country’s call and obeyed it. Those short months among the soldiers in South Africa may have been the mission God was preparing him for all his life.”

NEWS of Alfred’s death devastated his mother Charlotte, who had lost her husband, Alfred Snr, in 1895.

She went on to lose another son at the age of only 28 in 1905.

That left only Bev’s father, Frederick, alive out of Charlotte and Alfred Gregory’s three sons.

Burnley Road resident Bev, 71, owes his extraordinary one-generation link to a Boer War combatant to the fact he was born when his father was in middle age.

He now intends to write a book about the Southport men who found themselves fighting for Empire in South Africa.

If you can help Bev in his research, please call him on 01704-578451.

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Creamy cornet treat just so n-ice

Posted by Robert Alcock on May 2, 2008 8:59 AM

SPRING is in full bloom and summer is just around the corner, with its promise of fairs and festivals aplenty.

Children also have the familiar tinkling of ice cream vans to look forward to, and these three youngsters were certainly having fun in the sun sometime in the 1990s.

Maybe it was you who was photographed here tucking in to a raspberry whip – if you’d like to remind us of those hazy days, phone LookBack reporter Robert Alcock on 01704-398287, email robert.alcock@southportvisiter.co.uk or leave your memories below.

Were you one of these fairgoers tucking in to a raspberry whip?

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Ex-choirboy on family tree quest

Posted by Robert Alcock on May 2, 2008 8:57 AM

ONE of this group of choirboys and servers at St Luke’s Church in Hawkshead Street went on to become a policeman.

John Gregson was about 10 years old when he was captured here on film around 1950, standing at the centre of the second row from the front.

He later served in Southport Borough Police Force between 1962 and 1973, before it was absorbed into the newly-created Merseyside Constabulary.

Mr Gregson has now started to compile a family tree and wants to get in touch with anyone who recognises themselves in this old photo.

He said: “After marrying Mavis Deegan, of Old Park Lane, in 1964 we lived for a while at 59 Tulketh Street – which was later demolished, but I believe that the gate stumps are still in situ!” In 1973, Mr Gregson was transferred to Thames Valley Police, where he was promoted to sergeant and stationed at Crowthorne/Sandhurst police office.

If you can help with Mr Gregson’s genealogical research, write to him at: 2 Nightingale Gardens, Sandhurst, Berkshire GU47 9DQ, or email: jc.gregson@googlemail.com

Were you among this group from St Luke’s Church in Hawkshead Street in 1950 Code NA

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