Latest News

Support the Museum as you Surf

• Use every time you search the web and they give 50% of the fees paid by their advertising sponsors to Chesham Museum. Just type 'Chesham Museum' into the box provided on the easysearch web page and start searching.

Donate On-line

• Chesham Museum is an entirely volunteer-run and independent museum. We rely on your donations to continue to record and share our town's fascinating and diverse history. Go to the Chesham Museum page of the MyCharity website and donate today.

Fund raising

• Help us by becoming a Friend of the Museum

Chesham Town Council Events

• A calendar of events in Chesham

Chesham objects in other collections

• Have you spotted an object associated with Chesham in another museum? If so, we would love to know about it. Chiltern Toys had a factory making wooden and other toys in Waterside, Chesham until the outbreak of WWII. This Chiltern Toys bear is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Please Note: To read .pdf files you need a PDF reader like Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader installed on your computer.

Chesham Stories

Yolanda 'Lola' Richards (née Matto) - Wartime

I was 2 years old when War broke out in 1939. My Dad served as an Air Raid Warden in London at first, and later joined the Army and was sent to India and Burma. My Mum 'kept the home fires burning' as we used to say, and in addition to having a small child and three Airedale dogs, she kept chickens and rabbits to augment the food rations. The allowance which was paid to a soldier's wife was very meagre, and in any case the food was just not available, even with Ration Books.

The worst part was the Air Raids, when German planes would fly over England and drop bombs on strategic targets. My Dad constructed for us an Air Raid shelter in the house, made from a heavy carpentry bench, with sheets of metal encasing the sides. We crawled into the shelter from one end, and had blankets and pillows in there as we often had to hide for quite a while. We would listen to the planes going overhead, and got to know by the sound of them whether they were 'Ours' or 'Theirs'. Then we would hear the 'buzzbombs' going over, and pray that the noise would continue. For when it cut off, that was when the bomb would fall. You never forget something like that. War is a terrible thing. When the All Clear siren sounded, it felt so wonderful! We would all pile out and my Mum would go and put the kettle on to make a cup of tea. I guess it was part celebration, and part relief at having survived another raid.

However, one night it was different. Shortly after an especially scary raid, my Mum was alarmed by the Bomb Disposal Squad leader pounding on our door and telling us to evacuate the house quickly. Evidently, they knew that one bomb had dropped but had not exploded yet! Our house was situated right across the Chess Valley from Bovingdon Aerodrome, and that was a prime target for bombs. A German bomber had dropped a 'stick' of six bombs, but unfortunately for us, his aim was a little off. One was a direct hit on the goat shed at the far end of our property - the poor goat never knew what hit him!

The next one fell in our back lawn - only yards away from where my Mum and I were hiding in our home-made shelter. Not only did it land there, but it turned underground and tunnelled beneath the house......but did not explode!

A happier memory comes to me about the end of the war. May 8th, 1945 was known as V.E. Day - which stood for Victory in Europe Day. The bells all over England pealed out the good news, and celebrations were held in every town and village. Chesham Bois held a big celebration on the Common, at which there was a picnic, and singing and dancing - and even a Maypole! I remember being there and sitting on the grass to watch. Very vividly comes back the lovely smell of the sun's warmth on the grass, and the sight of little blue harebells nodding there under peaceful skies. Such a happy day! Freedom at last!

Yolanda 'Lola' Richards (née Matto), born 1937
Read more on Lola's web site, or click on the Next link below to read about Lola's Schooldays.

Copyright
Chesham Museum website and its contents are protected by copyright. You are welcome to access, download and print pages from the site for non-commercial personal or educational uses. If you wish to discuss commercial use of the material on this site please contact Chesham Museum using the Contact page for advice.

© Chesham Museum 2009